Research tells us that ~ 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. (Dopson, 2021)
Wow. That's higher than I thought it would be.
The question is why?
According to recent research from the Baymard Institute, the top five reasons are:
· Extra costs too high (55%)
· Account is required (34%)
· Checkout is too long (26%)
· Unclear pricing (21%)
· Don't trust the site (17%)
I have to wonder why anyone would put something in a cart in the first place if they thought the site was untrustworthy.
But I also can't help noticing how rational these reasons are when we know that all purchase decisions are emotional.
So what are the real reasons people abandon their carts?
One thought is that perhaps they never intended to buy the items in the first place and were merely fantasizing about what they would buy if they could afford to.
Or maybe putting stuff in their carts is just a new hobby - a way to fight quarantine fatigue.
But they could just be too anxious to complete the transaction even though they initially intended to. (Schultz, 2021)
What do you think? Why do people abandon their online carts? Why do you?
Dopson, E. (2021, June 23) 30+ Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics (and Strategies for Recouping Lost Sales) shopify.com. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.shopify.com/blog/shopping-cart-abandonment
Schultz, R. (2021, November 22) Fear of Checkout: Emotional Reasons For Cart Abandonment. mediapost.com. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/368881/fear-of-checkout-emotional-reasons-for-cart-aband.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=124390&hashid=NP_mYr1corR1rsVdWTtA9zohHug
9 comments:
I found this blog post particularly interesting as I am a victim of adding items to my cart and abandoning it entirely. I believe the Baymard Institute’s research is entirely relatable as I sometimes find my cart being overly monetarily ambitious or the process of creating an account/long checkout delays my rather superfluous, spontaneous shopping idea.
I believe the feature to heart items and add them to a wish list is a very smart and efficient feature to combat having items sit in a cart in idle or abandoning the items all together. However, in order to add items to a wishlists, an account is needed and many people do not want to create one.
A proposed solution: a website that acts as a cohesive wishlist enabling consumers to add wish list items from multiple websites saved in one space: a singular website hence one account. The website would most likely make their money on advertising as they simply act as the middle man being a place for consumers to store their many wishlists.
I didn't find research to support a hypothesis that online shopping carts reflect real life shopping habits in stores. It's just now this consumer behavior datapoint can be easily observed and tracked.
Comparing my own shopping behavior, when in a brick and mortar, I oftentimes will put items in my cart first, then later evaluate do I actually need it, is this at a price I would pay, is the best items for the current need, is there something better, will it go on promotion later.
Many times, when in a store, I see a lot of go-backs, and random items placed in various areas of store - obviously someone changed their mind and decided to abandon the item at that moment, instead of returning it to the rightful shelf or aisle.
In an online experience, you don't have to put it back, and sometimes, it's just easier to close the tab than have to go in and actually delete something.
I totally agree with those reasons that was mentioned in your text.
In my case, i have the habit of abandoning the cart while i'm making a research. So, i go to many ecommerces at the same time, add products and at the end, I compare which one had the better offer for me.
I don't really have had any bad experience at the online purchase so far that made me give up of the buying something, but i do know many people that have, so I totally believe the research from the Baymard Institute.
Thanks
Soraia G
As we learned from this article, there are various reasons people abandon their shopping carts; people have different personalities, needs, and income statuses, etc. For example, if someone values time over money, this customer might not register an account. Or for customers who are struggling financially or thrifty, an extra cost or unclear pricing could both become the reason to abandon their shopping cart.
I believe younger people have higher chances to abandon their shopping carts. Study shows Gen Z is cautious with money, and meanwhile Gen Yers are most likely to shop online (Adam Read,2019), but Gen Y has a relatively low income compared to other generations. As said, it seems "reasonable" for both age groups to abandon their shopping carts.
In my case, I am the type that is too anxious to complete the transaction even though I initially intended to. The assumption there might cause the anxiety would be that I worry about a similar product with better quality but lower price somewhere else online.
Resources:
https://www.further.co.uk/blog/ecommerce-and-the-demographics-of-online-shoppers/
https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2018/03/15/research-suggests-gen-z-financially-careful/
https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/the-truth-about-financial-habits-gen-y/
Of all the reasons the Baymard Institute outlines for abandoned online carts, I think the worst culprit is “Check out is too long.” Oftentimes a particularly long checkout will dry up my impulse-buy momentum. Once I’ve had too much time to reconsider my purchase I’ll decide I didn’t need it after all.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Amazon’s “buy now” button: it’s a conduit of pure impulse-buy energy! One click and the item is speeding towards my house. Amazon has my money before I have time to think.
“Check out is too long” is a very actionable issue (as the “buy now” feature attests), as opposed to harder to influence problems like customers using online carts merely to window shop.
At the same time, I’ve definitely abandoned online carts for all of the Baymard Institute’s reasons: “Extra costs” are a reason I’ve abandoned GrubHub carts, “Unclear pricing” is the reason I abandon Etsy carts, I’ve left a shady knock-off brand site after I thought better of it, and I’ve left a Bed Bath and Beyond cart because an “Account is required” (why do my bed sheets need to be password protected?)
-Harrison Beck
This post resonated with me because I am very guilty of abandoning my cart. As a mater of fact, I have at least one cart right now with items in it. The "check out too long" or "extra costs" would definitely result in me giving up on the purchase. If they are asking for too much information or I have to pay for shipping, count me out. Free shipping is a requirement in my book. I'd rather add an item that cost $20 to meet a free shipping requirement than pay $5 for shipping. At least I'm getting something out of the deal.
I agree with the reasons in the Baymard study - they are all reasons why I would abandon a cart. That being said, my reasons are generally quite different. One big one for me is I get distracted while shopping, start doing something else and totally forget about the cart. I would guess that this happens for many people. In our current world of social media and 24 hour information/news cycles we have very short attention spans. Unless I am buying something very specific, I will browse, add things to my cart, stop to do something else and come back to the website or app. Sadly, I've lost quite a few things that I really wanted by operating this way. By the time I come back, they are sold out and no longer available.
Another reason why I abandon my cart is to avoid making an impulse buy. If I really like the item(s), I will remember to come back to the cart. From there, I let the universe decide if it's meant for me to have - if it's still there, it was meant to be.
Retailers are getting more savy these days. On more than one occasion, after abandoning a cart I've gotten an email from a store reminding me that I've left something in the cart and that it's still available. This is extremely smart as it has resulted in me completing the purchase. In order for retailers to get us to shop with them, they have to continue to change how they do things in order to keep our attention. There is just too much competition for them to keep the status quo.
I think people all make emotional choice when they were influenced by a product, but when they give themselves more time to think about it, they decided not to purchase rationally. This kind of impulsive shopping cart behavior is what I usually experience haha. I mean when I initially added them in the cart, I feel like I can handle the costs but with all my carts from multiple or dozens websites, I CANNOT. I would feel guilty if I do purchase beyond my spending limit. Another reason for people to abandon online carts more easily is that they could abandon for no effort - simply just closing a tab. While this may not be the case for brick and motor, people feel the pressure to purchase when the sales is working hard to get to you and complimenting how good a jacket looks on you. You would feel bad if you just leave for nothing after you try on multiple jackets right? At least I do. But online shopping is totally on me, I can think rationally. Another reason for me to abandon online cart is that I usually use the carts as wishlists within a time frame - meaning I will save multiple tabs of websites to see what I actually need from the carts. For example for cyber Monday yesterday, I decided to go over all my saved tabs and to see any of them were on sale!
Kayla Xiong
I believe the reason why customers abandon their online carts lies in the user-interface aspect of the applications. I agree that perhaps the online-checking out process takes too long, as stated by the research cited in the blog, and it irritated users that lead them not to buy anymore. I used to do buy clothes on a non-popular e-commerce site. I bought a lot of stuff since their offerings are cheap. But when I was about to check out, the site ask me to register again to create a new account using a different email, which means I would have to sign up, log in again, and fill up my shopping cart again. Because of that, I ran out of patience and left the site. From a product management viewpoint, it is very important to create a very simple user interface, so that online customers will have a smooth user experience.
According to SalesCycle's cart abandonment surveys, 34% of individuals abandon their shopping carts because they were just looking. I am a part of this 34% when it coming to searching for clothing and luxury items. Since I am a college student, it is most convenient for me to purchase fast-fashion for my day-to-day looks. I also buy new clothes every season, so fashion fast also me to diversify my look within my budget. With that being said, I naturally prefer quality items and in my spare time I like to find new stores that most people don't usually shop from. So this often resort to me adding items to my cart that I have no intention of buying. I would assume that most colleges student have the same mindset given that I know many people who do the same thing. In the same survey, it was stated that 6% of people abandon their carts because of lack of payment options. With the rise of online shopping, I have found that purchasing through payment plans is the most convenient for me. Therefore, I am more like to purchase more expensive times if the website offers options such as Karma or Afterpay, where I can pay off my purchase over the span of 3 or 4 months. For individuals like myself, this is a more desirable option because it is less money coming out of bank account at once, leaving me with more room to budget my money in other ways. It was also stated the 15% of individuals who took the survey prefer to buy in store. This gives individuals the option for trying on clothes before they purchase them and offers a more authentic experience when it comes to buying items. While everything is converting to a digital platform , I often wondering at what cost. Though the convenience is definitely an advantage with online shopping, it is debatable whether the good outweighs the downsides.
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