Cart abandonment in e-commerce refers to the situation when a customer adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website or app without completing the purchase. In other words, the customer abandons their cart before completing the checkout process or making the payment for the products they added to their cart.

Cart abandonment is a common problem for e-commerce platforms, and it can have a significant impact on their bottom line. E-commerce companies try to reduce cart abandonment by sending reminder emails, offering discounts, and simplifying the checkout process.

Why do people abandon online shopping carts?

Some of the core reasons which can force online prospects to abandon their shopping cart without completing the checkout process are:

• Unexpected shipping costs that were not initially disclosed and presented  at the check out process stage.
• A complicated or lengthy checkout process can be frustrating for customers and may lead to cart abandonment.
• Technical issues such as website crashes, slow page load times, and errors during checkout can all contribute to cart abandonment.
• Comparison shopping, Customers may add items to their cart as part of the research process and then leave to compare prices on other websites.
• Price sensitivity that Customers may be browsing for products but are not ready to make a purchase due to high prices.
• If the product information, images or descriptions do not match customer expectations, they may abandon their cart.
• Customers may abandon their carts if their preferred payment method is not offered.
• Customers can easily get distracted while shopping online and may leave their carts to attend to other matters.
• Sometimes, customers may simply change their minds and decide not to purchase the product after all.

What is the Cart abandonment impact on e-commerce

Increased marketing costs

E-commerce businesses often invest in marketing and advertising to attract shoppers to their website. If a significant percentage of those shoppers abandon their cart, it means that the e-commerce business is spending money on marketing without seeing a return on investment.

Inefficiencies in inventory management

When shoppers abandon their carts it may result in overstocking of certain items. The business may order more inventory than necessary to meet demand, based on the assumption that all carts will result in completed purchases. On the other hand, cart abandonment can also lead to a shortage of certain items. If a business does not order enough inventory to meet the demand for a particular item, they may experience frequent cart abandonment due to the item being out of stock. This can result in missed sales opportunities and a poor customer experience.

Decreased Conversion Rate

When shoppers abandon their carts, it means they have not completed a purchase, which reduces the conversion rate of your website.

Lost Revenue

Abandoned carts mean lost revenue for e-commerce businesses. The shopper may have intended to purchase the items but didn't complete the transaction, resulting in a lost sale.

Proven  Strategies for Overcoming Cart Abandonment in E-commerce

Enhanced website speed

Website speed plays a critical role in reducing shopping cart abandonment. High speed pages and content loading, providing customers with a smoother and more enjoyable shopping experience can reduce the likelihood of customers becoming frustrated or impatient and abandoning their cart. Faster websites tend to rank higher in search engine results pages, making it easier for potential customers to find the site and complete their purchases.

Hassle free check out process

If the checkout process is long and complicated, it can create friction and frustration for customers. For example, if there are too many steps, required fields, or security checks, customers may feel overwhelmed and decide to abandon their cart. Customers may be shopping online during a break at work or while on the go. If the checkout process is lengthy, they may not have enough time to complete the purchase and decide to abandon their cart. Also Provide an option for customers to check out as a guest, so they don't have to create an account or remember login details.

Amazon, which has a patented one-click checkout process that eliminates the need for customers to enter their shipping and billing information for each purchase. This streamlined process has contributed to Amazon's success and dominance in the e-commerce industry.

Provide Multiple Payment Options

With the abundance of multiple payment options available, retailers need to offer multiple payment gateways including region-specific payment options, and the option to remember their payment details to  increase the likelihood of completing the purchase.

Mobile responsive

Since younger shoppers are increasingly using their mobile phones to shop, a streamlined, attractive mobile interface of the website is vital to getting more online sales. Mobile-friendly websites were great but it is also time to upgrade to a mobile-optimized or a responsive website. In fact, the best way to attract the millennial market would be to have a native mobile app developed for both Android and iOS as no website compares to a native app in terms of ease of use. This has been again proven by e-commerce firms like amazon, ebay, H&M, etc.

Price transparency

Most websites show one cost in advertisements or even on the Product Description Page and then increase costs in the cart. This makes shoppers wary of the sudden increase in prices. The easiest way to avoid shopping cart abandonment is to make sure all costs including shipping and taxes are clearly indicated in the product description page.

Send Abandoned Cart Emails

An AI-powered shopping cart abandonment tool that recommends visually similar products and  personalized by understanding each shopper’s visual style can power compelling cart abandonment emails that make cart recovery. The emails add value to shoppers and one open can lead to shoppers opening every subsequent email as the content is completely personalized. This not only recovers the cart but also tells the shopper that the retailer understands what they need.

Wrapped up

A combination of strategies that work best for your business will allow you to attain the  goal of preventing mass cart abandonment and converting shoppers who abandon carts into loyal customers. Spurtcommerce e commerce solutions offers the best strategies that can conveniently reduce your abandonment rate and entice your online visitors to become healthy customers for your business.