One of the biggest issues that eCommerce stores have to deal with is shopping cart abandonment. How big, you ask? We’ve scoured the web to find the most up to date statistics regarding shopping cart abandonment. We’re betting that you probably thought that it was much lower than it really is.
Luckily, if you read all the stats, you’ll also see that it can differ depending on the device used, time of the year, month, or week. So, not all hope is lost. Plus, there are certain steps that you can take like creating email drip campaigns and optimizing your checkout that can help.
Top 16 Cart Abandonment Statistics:
- 1. For the past two years, the rate was nearly 80% for mobile devices
- 2. The shopping cart abandonment rate for desktop is lower than mobile
- 3. Cart abandonment rate is lower towards the end of the year
- 4. Cart abandonment rate lower after payday
- 5. Fridays are the best days
- 6. Cart abandonment steadily increases after work
- 7. About a third end up buying at a later date
- 8. The travel industry has the highest rate
- 9. More than 50% of online finance applications get abandoned
- 10. Shipping costs main reason US shoppers abandon carts
- 11. Slow delivery and compulsory accounts are other main reasons for abandonment
- 12. The average US checkout flow has 20+ form elements
- 13. Poorly functioning websites lead to cart abandonment among Gen Zs
- 14. Better checkout design can improve conversion rates by 35%
- 15. Using both cart and browse abandonment emails more effective
- 16. Cart recovery emails have an open rate of 45%
1. For the past two years, the rate was nearly 80% for mobile devices
According to data shared by Statista, the average shopping cart abandonment rate for the past two years stayed more or less the same at about 80% for online shoppers from the UK and US who shop by means of a mobile device.
The highest that it’s been during this period was 82.4% during Q1 2021. Though, the next quarter, it was also the lowest since Q1 2020 with an average of 80.6%.
This rate was more or less the same for online shoppers from Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. Though, it was even higher among Canadian shoppers, with closer to 90% of baskets not resulting in completed order.
Other regions where the average shopping cart rate is significantly higher are young and emerging markets. According to SaleCycle’s 2021 eCommerce Stats Trends Report, in the Middle East it’s just over 90%, while Africa and South America aren’t far behind with 86.4% and 86.5% respectively.
2. The shopping cart abandonment rate for desktop is lower than mobile
Online shoppers who shop via desktop are generally less likely to abandon their carts. The shopping cart abandonment rate for desktop is about 15% lower than for mobile devices. In the United States, the average shopping cart abandonment rate for desktop was 66.1% for Q2 2021, compared to 80.6% for mobile devices for the same period.
3. Cart abandonment rate is lower towards the end of the year
According to SaleCycle’s 2021 eCommerce Stats Trends Report, the cart abandonment rate is usually more or less the same until September. After September, the rate typically starts to drop.
A reason for this change is that consumers have been researching and comparing prices before the holiday season starts. So, as soon as the prices begin to decrease, they’re more ready to complete the purchase.
Source: cloudfront.net
4. Cart abandonment rate lower after payday
When it comes to trends according to the day of the month, cart abandonment generally becomes lower after the 25th of each month. It then tends to pick up again at around the start of the second week of the next month.
The reason for this is pretty simple. During the month (in other words from the 7th till the 25th), consumers are merely browsing for what they can buy once they’ve been paid. So, if you’re using cart abandonment emails (which you definitely should), it’s a good idea to set up your email drip campaign so that reminders are emailed again after the 25th of each month.
Source: cloudfront.net
5. Fridays are the best days
Not only do Fridays mark the start of the weekend, but it’s also the day of the week when cart abandonment rates are the lowest. Though, unfortunately, it doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the weekend as, surprisingly enough, weekend cart abandonments are higher over the weekend than during the week. After Friday, online stores have to wait till Wednesday to enjoy a slightly lower rate again.
Source: cloudfront.net
6. Cart abandonment steadily increases after work
Online shoppers are more likely not to complete their purchase in the evening than in the early afternoon. The SaleCycle’s 2021 eCommerce Stats Trends Report reveals that there’s a steady increase hour on hour after 8 p.m. till about 11 p.m.
Source: cloudfront.net
7. About a third end up buying at a later date
As you can see just by looking at a few of the previous cart abandonment statistics, timing plays a huge factor. While it doesn’t really come as a surprise that consumers are more inclined to buy the product straightaway after payday, it’s a bit more surprising that the day of the week can also have a rather big impact.
The good news is that not all hope is necessarily lost when a customer fails to complete the purchase. According to data shared by Statista, about a third of online shoppers in the UK bought the same item on the same website at a later date.
That being said, there’s still a rather higher percentage of online shoppers who end up supporting the competition. More or less 25% of consumers who abandoned an order bought the same product, but from a different online store.
8. The travel industry has the highest rate
While the average cart abandonment rate can be anything from about 65% to 80% depending on the device used, it also varies significantly from one industry to the next. The sector with the highest cart abandonment rate, though, is travel. SaleCycle’s 2021 eCommerce Stats Trends Report estimates that it can be as high as 87%.
One of the reasons for this is that travelers generally tend to shop around for promotions. They also typically wait for the best day to book their accommodation or flights. In fact, many blogs recommend that travelers book their flights on specific days or at certain times to get a better deal.
Data shared by SaleCycle revealed that another main reason why the rate for this industry was so high was because travelers first need to check with their fellow travelers. The other reasons identified by SaleCycle were issues that plagued other industries too such as technical matters with the website, a lack of payment options, and a complex process.
9. More than 50% of online finance applications get abandoned
A survey completed by Signicat found that more than half (56%) of online finance applications get abandoned. The main reason was the amount of personal info the forms required. Not only were applicants uncomfortable sharing some of these details, but it also meant that it required more time to complete the form.
Other reasons that were identified include having to send documents by mail (or drop it off in person at the branch) and confusing language.
10. Shipping costs main reason US shoppers abandon carts
One of the main benefits of shopping online is that you can virtually shop from anywhere. Though, what if the shipping costs are simply too high to ship your products from, let’s say, the United Kingdom to the United States? You guessed it – shopping cart abandonment.
In 2021, nearly 70% of online shoppers from the US revealed that too high shipping costs were the primary reason why they failed to check out when they were shopping from UK brands. Other reasons were long delivery time and import duties.
That being said, this doesn’t only hold true for US shoppers purchasing goods from the UK. As a matter of fact, according to data shared by Baymard, too high extra costs like shipping, tax, and other fees are the main reasons for abandonment during checkout. Nearly 50% of participants indicated this as the main reason why they fail to take out their credit cards.
11. Slow delivery and compulsory accounts are other main reasons for abandonment
After too high additional costs, the two other main reasons for abandonment during checkout were websites wanting users first to create an account (24%) and slow delivery times (22%).
Other reasons identified by Baymard were:
- A complicated checkout process
- Limited payment methods
- An unsatisfactory returns policy
- Untrustworthy website
- Website errors
- Failure to add up the final total
Source: baymard.com
12. The average US checkout flow has 20+ form elements
While a long and/or complicated checkout process wasn’t one of the three main reasons why consumers fail to finalize payment, a checkout research study completed by Baymard revealed that most checkout flows can be shortened. According to their large-scale checkout usability testing, the ideal checkout flow can contain only 12 form elements (if you only count the form fields, it works out to about 8).
However, the average US checkout flow has more than 20 form elements. So, the good news is that it’s completely possible to reduce the number of form elements by at least 20%. In fact, in some instances about half of the form elements can be removed and you’ll still have a functioning checkout process.
13. Poorly functioning websites lead to cart abandonment among Gen Zs
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gen Z consumers’ online shopping habits have shown some changes. A year after the outbreak of the pandemic, almost 60% of US online shoppers in this age group have revealed that they’ve become less brand loyal.
One of the main reasons that were identified for this change in consumer behavior was user experience. More than 60% of Gen Zers are less willing to wait for poorly functioning websites and will rather abandon their shopping cart or write a negative review, according to stats shared by Statista.
14. Better checkout design can improve conversion rates by 35%
Over the past decade, the Baymard Institute has done a lot of checkout testing. According to their research, the average large-sized eCommerce site can improve its conversion rate by 35% just by improving its checkout process. This works out to recover as much as $260 billion in “lost” orders.
15. Using both cart and browse abandonment emails more effective
Fresh Relevance’s Real-time Marketing Report for Q1 2021 reveals that their average client who used cart abandonment emails (emails sent when a shopper leaves after adding products to their cart) and browse abandonment emails (sent when a shopper leaves after window shopping on a website) together made more than $130,000 extra in sales per $1 million in turnover. This works out to nearly 40% more than those who used only cart abandonment emails.
16. Cart recovery emails have an open rate of 45%
Even if you decide to use only cart abandonment emails, you can look forward to pretty impressive results. According to data shared by Moosend, the average open rate for these emails are as high as 45%. To put it into perspective, the open rate for general marketing emails is less than 20%.
What’s more, the average click-through rate for cart abandonment emails was almost 9% and more than 1 out of 10 users who open a cart abandonment email will actually go on to complete their purchase.
Source: shopify.com
The best time to send a cart abandonment email, according to SaleCycle, is an hour after the basket was abandoned.
Wrapping Things Up
While these shopping cart abandonment stats reveal that the average abandonment rate can be as high as 80%, it doesn’t have to be the case for your eCommerce business. From improving the guest checkout process to addressing security concerns to even possibly including a free delivery option, there are a number of things that you can do to lower it.
At the very least, we strongly suggest that you take the time to craft a few cart abandonment emails. It’s one of the most effective ways to turn browsers into customers.
Then, double-check that your checkout process is intuitive. Are there some mandatory fields that you can leave out? Perhaps you offer limited payment options? What about your load times? These things might seem insignificant to you, but it can make all the difference to your potential customers.
