JUNE 30, 2009
Subtract from cart
Browsing and comparing products before adding them to an online shopping cart takes time and effort, but leaving those products is as easy as “click.”
And that’s a problem for online retailers.
According to an e-tailing group survey, nearly 60% of US online retailers survey are seeing cart abandonment rates of over 20% this year.
A study by PayPal and comScore found 45% of US online shoppers had abandoned shopping carts multiple times in just three weeks.
Most importantly from the merchants’ point of view, the average cost of abandoned goods in those shopping carts was $109.
In the same study, 46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges were a “very important reason” for emptying carts.
Other reasons for abandonment included:
- Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
- Lack of money: 36%
- Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
- Wanted to shop offline: 26%
- Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
- Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
- Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
- Security concerns: 21%
“Merchants who don’t welcome back abandoners are leaving hundreds of dollars per shopper on the table,” said Eddie Davis of PayPal.
“Sweetening the deal with free shipping, coupons and special discounts is a great way to encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases.”
And makes leaving carts behind a little bit harder.
