Raphael Thys
Shopping cart abandonment is a phenomenon where a potential customer starts a check out process but leaves without actually buying anything. There are numerous reasons this could happen. Buyers usually figure out additional costs (like taxes and shipping) just before clicking the Buy button. Others dislike the idea of creating an account so much that they drop out entirely. Then, there’s the complication that comes with the inefficiently made checkout process.
By figuring out which of these reasons is predominant, retailers can drastically improve their performance. Read the newest shopping cart abandonment statistics and find out.
- The average shopping cart abandonment rate across all industries is 79.8%.
- In 2021, fashion had the third-highest cart abandonment rate of 88.57%.
- The value of abandoned shopping carts is $4.6 trillion worldwide.
- If the store doesn’t offer curbside pick-up, 15% of shoppers will abandon their purchase.
- The amount of personal information a site requests is why 40% of visitors abandon it.
- A non-responsive website can increase your cart abandonment rate by 75%.
- 35% of people abandoned their shopping carts when asked to register an account.
- 26% of customers will return if retargeted.
1. The average cart abandonment rate grew to 94.4% at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Today)
There are two factors affecting this statistic. One is the increased number of people who were only browsing for fun, and the other is the heightened uncertainty that marked the first months of the pandemic in particular. As soon as the panic settled a bit, shopping cart abandonment rates decreased again.
2. In 2021, fashion had the third-highest cart abandonment rate of 88.57%.
(Statista, SaleCycle)
The cart abandonment rate differs by industry, however, the pandemic increased the rate for all industries. For example, the average abandonment rate in 2018 was only 74.13% for fashion. When it comes to related industries such as cosmetics and luxury, in 2021, they experienced a comeback. Cosmetics ended up with a rate of 75.35% in 2021, while luxury had the fourth-highest rate of all industries: 87.79%.
3. The average shopping cart abandonment rate in 2021 was 79.8%.
(Statista, Baymard Institute)
The fact that the average checkout cart abandonment rate is 79.8% can be seen in two ways. It is relevant because it shows exactly how big of a problem this actually is. However, the difference among various industries and online shopping trends is huge, which is why the global average value hardly serves as an indicator.
For that reason, the Baymard institute takes different cart abandonment reports and calculates an average: at the moment the number is at 69.82%.
4. Mobile users have an abandonment rate of a staggering 85.65%.
(Sleeknote)
Mobile users have an abandonment rate of a staggering 85.65%, which is considerably higher than the rate of their desktop counterparts. The main reason for this is the fact that a lot of people prefer to buy on a desktop device. This is why they may check the price of an item on mobile and then buy it from a different device. In fact, there seems to be a direct correlation between desktop size and the online shopping cart abandonment rate.
5. The value of abandoned shopping carts is $4.6 trillion worldwide.
(FinancesOnline)
To explain just how huge this figure is, it’s important to mention that the value of abandoned shopping carts in the world is $4.6 trillion worldwide. In other words, according to ecommerce cart abandonment rate surveys, if everyone finished every checkout process that they’ve started, the ecommerce world would earn $4.6 trillion more.
6. 6.5% of the abandoned shopping cart value can be recovered.
(FinancesOnline)
Another crucial global online shopping statistic shows how much of this ‘lost’ money can be salvaged. Sure, $4.6 trillion is the value of these potential purchases, but a large portion of them would never be completed, to begin with. So, how big of a portion is actually salvageable? According to some estimates, it is 6.5% of these $4.6 trillion, which amounts to roughly $260 billion—a figure far from insignificant.
7. 92% of shoppers leave due to negative peer reviews.
(FinancesOnline)
Before completing a purchase, the majority of shoppers will look for a peer review. People are quite perceptive when it comes to this and have the tendency to check reviews left by marketers. However, negative peer reviews are the No.1 reason for particularly high cart abandonment rates. As many as 92% of shoppers leave due to negative peer reviews.
8. 80% of consumers abandon the cart because of a poor return policy.
(FinancesOnline)
When it comes to online vs in-store shopping, the biggest difference is the inability of a buyer to personally inspect the item. An online buyer has no way of knowing if the item they receive is going to be the item that they’ve ordered in the first place. So, 80% of them will abandon the cart because of an inadequate return policy. So, a better return policy can drastically drop a high shopping cart abandonment rate.
9. 58.6% of potential buyers are not ready for the purchase.
(FinancesOnline)
A huge portion of these potential buyers are just not ready to purchase. In fact, as many as 58.6% of them would fall into this category. The chances are that they’re on a site just to inspect the product, look for reviews or compare the price in the store to the one they saw someplace else. They might also look for a price as a point of reference for their local retail place.
10. Slow delivery time is responsible for only 16% of all shopping cart abandonment.
(FinancesOnline)
In the field of ecommerce, there are so many myths and misconceptions. One of them is the idea that people are abandoning the store without buying anything because of the slow delivery. This is why, when they notice a high checkout abandonment rate, the majority of retailers include the next-day or same-day delivery. In reality, though, only 16% of people are concerned with the delivery time so much that they would leave without buying anything.
11. A non-responsive website can increase your cart abandonment rate by 75%.
(Fundera)
There are a lot of technical issues that have a major impact on your shopping cart abandonment rate. For instance, if one’s website is too slow to load, it may lose 75% of its traffic. This means that it’s not just one’s offer or price that affects the abandonment rate. Sometimes, in order to improve the performance of an e-store, one needs to do on-site optimization. These shopping cart abandonment stats can shed new light on this subject.
12. The time of the day also affects cart abandonment rates.
(Fundera)
Another little-known factor in play is the fact that the ecommerce shopping cart abandonment rate tends to be substantially higher between 8 PM and 9 PM. The reason behind this is mostly because people browse for items they want straight before going to bed. This gives them some additional time to weigh-in on the decision.
13. Saturdays and Sundays are the days with the highest cart abandonment rate.
(Fundera)
On Saturday and Sunday, the abandonment rate can skyrocket to 89%. People usually spend weekends relaxing, which is why they are reluctant to make any major decisions or choices. This is also why Monday tends to be the most active day for online shopping. As expected, Wednesday is the average, with an 85% abandonment rate.
14. On average, there are 39 elements online retailers can improve in their checkout experience.
(Fundera)
These shopping cart abandonment stats can be improved in numerous ways. On average, there are 39 elements that an online retailer can improve to make their checkout process smoother and more satisfying.
One way to improve your cart abandonment rate is to use the Google Analytics tool for your website. You can not only see the data needed to calculate the rate, but also see where in the funnel the customers dropped out and what needs to be worked on.
15. If the store doesn’t offer curbside pick-up, 15% of shoppers will abandon their purchase.
(DigitalCommerce360)
Curbside pick-up is a mandatory part of online shopping in 2022. With over 70% of shoppers having used it at least once, BOPIS signals that the store is keeping up with the times and minding safety and convenience.
16. Shoppers abandon 1 in 7 shopping carts.
(CodeinWP)
There’s an estimate that shoppers abandon 1 in 7 shopping carts. This raises a question—why is shopping cart abandonment a problem for retailers? Well, a high shopping cart abandonment can indicate that there’s a problem within their organization.
17. The cart abandonment rate in Europe is at a low 70.9%.
(Finances Online, Statista)
When considering cart abandonment by region, it is clear that Europe is at the bottom (or on top, depending on your perspective), with a 70.9% rate of shopping cart abandonment. This is a truly optimistic figure, given the fact that regions like Asia and the Pacific islands have an average rate of 76.3%, and Latin America has a of about 75.3%.
When it comes to the UK, cart abandonment statistics for 2021 show the rate was at around 83% on mobile, and around 70% on desktop.
18. The majority of US consumers rely on their phones.
(Forrester)
According to the Forrester research shopping cart abandonment, the majority of consumers from the US are incredibly reliant on their phones. This is why it’s suggested that building strong mobile sites might end up in a considerable decrease in abandonment rates.
19. 21% of most cart abandonment is done by people aged 25–34.
(Finances Online)
When it comes to cart abandonment rates by age group, the numbers are far from surprising. First of all, the age group 25–34 comprises 21% of the entire shopping cart abandonment rate. The age group 35–44 follows closely behind with a 20% abandonment rate. People in the age group 45–54 have the lowest abandonment rate of 13%.
20. In ecommerce, women’s clothing is the most commonly abandoned product type.
(Finances Online)
When it comes to the product type that gets abandoned most often, it’s important to stress that the clothing industry is the absolute leader. Women’s clothing is the most commonly abandoned product type, in 29% of the cases. Male clothing is not far behind with an abandonment rate of 26%.
21. Currency miscalculation is a huge issue for shopping cart abandonment.
(Personalics)
Another effect of digital shopping cart abandonment is the fear of facing different currencies in the retail world. Namely, a lot of cost-related confusion comes from one’s inability to accurately convert the price in the currency displayed on the site to their local currency. Additional costs are making this even more confusing.
22. Only about 0.25% of new visitors are ready to make the purchase right away.
(The Good)
The customer lifecycle is a marketing principle suggesting that the majority of people become customers after several interactions with your brand.
Digital shopping cart abandonment negative effects commonly caused by this phenomenon are usually tied to unrealistic expectations of retailers. To the majority of these retailers, 0.25% can sound quite discouraging.
23. Around 34% of people opening a cart on your e-store are just looking.
(BloggingX)
When it comes to all the problems caused by the shopping cart abandonment phenomenon, some studies show that around 34% of people who open a cart on your e-store do that just to check the products.
Namely, shopping cart abandonment statistics suggest that a significant portion of your traffic has no intention of becoming a paying customer. This means that they ruin your retention rate, your shopping cart abandonment rate, and draw more traffic to your site with no gain whatsoever.
24. The amount of personal information a site requests is the reason 40% of visitors abandon it.
(BloggingX)
When asked, about 50% of all ecommerce visitors stated that they’ve left because a website asked for too much personal information. The reason this is problematic is that it significantly undermines the trust between the customer and the brand in question. This is one more reason registering should not be mandatory for the majority of ecommerce sites.
25. 34% of visitors leave because they believe the checkout form is too lengthy.
(BloggingX)
According to numerous studies and surveys, it is believed that human beings have an unprecedentedly low attention span. To further support this claim, there’s the fact that as many as 34% of potential buyers give up because it took them too long to fill in the checkout form. Also, if the wording is confusing and takes a bit more careful reading to interpret it, about 18% of visitors might leave.
26. Desktop users have the lowest cart abandonment rate of 73.1%
(Fundera)
On average, desktop users have significantly lower cart abandonment rates of 73.1%. This is because desktop websites are usually better suited for online shopping. However, as mobile shopping is growing by the minute, investing in optimizing your website for mobile could improve your overall customer experience and total conversions.
27. 21% of shoppers dropped because they couldn’t calculate the total cost of the purchase.
(Fundera)
The next piece of advice is—exercise transparency. As many as 21% of shoppers abandon the cart because they can’t calculate the total cost. So offer the calculation up-front. For those who believe that they can trick their customers by presenting them with the lower number, just remember that hidden extra costs are responsible for 55% of all abandoned carts.
28. Improving the security of your site can make 35% of people stay.
(FinancesOnline)
According to some estimates, 35% of people leave because your site is not deemed secure. So, by improving the security of the site, you could make them stay. Now, you should also recollect that 75% of them leave because the site is too slow to load. In other words, by improving the technical aspects of your site, you can impact shopping cart abandonment in the right way.
29. 35% of people abandoned their shopping carts because they were asked to register an account.
(FinancesOnline)
One of the most relevant shopping cart abandonment statistics was the fact that 35% of people abandoned their shopping carts because they were asked to register an account. Sure, this can facilitate their future purchases and give a retailer a greater insight into who they’re dealing with. Still, pushing your buyers to register is clearly a bad idea.
30. 26% of customers will return if retargeted.
(Sleeknote)
Just because someone has left your website doesn’t mean they’re lost for good. In fact, a good retargeting campaign can result in as many as 26% of these customers returning to the website. Due to the fact that this is also a low-cost marketing strategy (since it already targets qualified leads), it is definitely an investment worth considering.
As you can see, these shopping cart abandonment statistics are quite staggering, but they also have an optimistic note to them. They indicate just how much room for improvement an average ecommerce business has.
By figuring out why buyers are leaving without purchasing anything, businesses can understand the checkout process a lot better, as well as realize how they can improve it. Also, understanding customer behaviour (and this is one of its integral parts) can bring retailers one step closer to their target audience.
What is a good shopping cart abandonment rate?
The average cart abandonment rate is 79.8% and it marked the checkout abandonment rate benchmark for 2021. Having an abandonment rate that’s lower than that means you’re well above average. Still, it’s wiser to compare your abandonment rate to your own industry, especially since some industries were hit harder than others by the pandemic.
It is believed that the optimal checkout process (one without any innate flaw of its own) would have an abandonment rate of just 20%. Still, it’s impossible to completely eliminate the shopping cart abandonment phenomenon.
How is the abandonment rate calculated?
The shopping cart abandonment rate formula is quite simple. The first number you need to know is the number of created shopping carts. Then, you divide the total number of completed purchases by the number of created shopping carts. The next-to-last step is to subtract this result from 1. Finally, multiply it by 100 in order to turn the number into a percentage.
Why is shopping cart abandonment a problem?
This is because every instance of cart abandonment signalizes a potential loss of profit. As we’ve already mentioned, it is calculated that the annual global loss of profit caused by these abandonments goes to an astounding $4 trillion. About $260 billion of this money can be salvaged by improving one’s checkout process.
Another problem caused by this is the demoralizing effect that a shopping cart abandonment causes. In the eyes of a retailer, every single loss of these potential buyers is a failure of their ecommerce business.
How do you stop shopping cart abandonment?
Reducing a high shopping cart abandonment rate is not an easy task. First, it requires the optimization of a shopping cart process. Next, it requires an in-depth analysis of both your target audience and their reasons for abandoning your shopping cart. Then, by addressing these issues one-by-one, the numbers should start going in the right direction.
What effects does shopping cart abandonment have?
Negative effects of shopping cart abandonment are loss of profits and a demoralizing effect that it has on the retailer in question. If retailers lack the analysis of the reasons people dropped out, it may cause a bad future retail strategy. For instance, they may assume that a certain product or category is far more interesting to buyers than it actually is. This would cause them to order a stock that they won’t sell for quite a while, thus immobilizing an important part of their capital.
When it comes to prioritizing based on shopping cart abandonment statistics, it can improve your overall business strategy.
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