Consumers have always bailed out and abandoned shopping carts online but recent reports are putting numbers to the cost of this problem for websites that fail to close the deal with their customers.
According to an e-tailing group survey, 60 percent of online retailers are seeing shopping carts abandoned by 20 percent of consumers on their websites this year.
Another study by PayPal and comScore found that 45 percent of online shoppers in the U.S. had abandoned shopping carts on multiple occasions in a recent three-week period. The average value of abandoned carts was $109.
With the numbers clearly suggesting an upside to reducing the number of carts being abandoned, it begs the question, "Why are consumers opting not to buy?"
According to PayPal and comScore, high shipping fees is tops on the list of why shoppers leave carts behind. Forty-six percent of those surveyed, eMarketer reports, said the high cost of shipping was a "very important reason" in their decision not to go ahead with an online purchase. Consumer wanting to comparison shop was ranked second at 37 percent.
Other factors behind abandoned shopping carts included:
- A lack of money (36 percent)
- Searching for a coupon (27 percent)
- Choosing to shop offline (26 percent)
- Not able to find preferred payment option (24 percent)
- Item out-of-stock at checkout (23 percent)
- Inability to locate customer support: (22 percent)
- Security concerns (21 percent).
Discussion Questions: Do you think the rate of abandoned shopping carts is rising or are these studies measuring blips in consumer behavior? What are the most effective steps retailers can take to reduce the number of abandoned carts?