Online shopping is quickly becoming the preferred form of shopping for most consumers. Today, online retailers can be far more productive and profitable than traditional retailers. While online retailers can do very well and make a lot of sales, they do tend to have an issue with cart abandonment.
What is Cart Abandonment?
Cart abandonment is a situation in online shopping when a customer will do some shopping on a website and add items to their shopping cart but never ends up purchasing the items. Overall, retailers experience a very high rate of cart abandonment. Most retailers estimate that they have an abandonment rate of 60 to 80 percent, with an average of around 67 percent.
Why Does it Happen?
Overall, cart abandonment is one of the most significant concerns for online retailers. There are a variety of reasons why this could occur. One reason could be because a consumer never intends on purchasing the item in the first place and just wants to see what their total cost would be after accounting for all items purchased, taxes, and shipping. However, it could also be a sign that a consumer also found a similar item elsewhere online for a better price. Whatever the reason for abandonment is, a retailer would be able to make a lot more in sales if they were able to reduce their abandonment rate by even a slight margin.
Reasons to Follow Up
If a retailer is having issues with abandonment, following up with consumers that have abandoned online shopping carts could be a good option. One of the main reasons why a retailer should follow up is because they could get better feedback. If a retailer is losing sales at the last minute due to online competition, this information could be very valuable and help the online retailer to make pricing or strategy changes.
