About 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before checkout is complete. That means over two-thirds of potential online sales are slipping through the cracks.
Of course, some cart abandonment is inevitable as shoppers browse digitally, get sidetracked, or find other reasons to step away from a purchase.
But a significant portion of lost carts comes down to how your checkout is set up and how you process your payments.
To tackle this head-on, you must grasp industry benchmarks for cart abandonment rates and adopt best practices to boost key performance indicators (KPIs). Ignoring this could mean losing out on a sale while potential customers vanish.
So, let’s explore average cart abandonment rates, uncover causes and effects, and provide actionable strategies to transform abandonment into successful conversions.
What is cart abandonment in ecommerce?
Cart abandonment happens when a user adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website without completing the purchase. For you, this translates to lost sales and wasted marketing efforts.
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The average shopping cart abandonment rate
The average rate of shopping cart abandonment sits at 70.1%. However, it's important to note that this statistic can vary significantly across different industries. So, let's dive into some recent data to examine how cart abandonment rates differ across various sectors:
- Beauty & Personal Care: 82.87%
- Home & Furniture: 79.10%
- Luxury & Jewelry: 77.15%
- Fashion, Accessories, and Apparel: 76.94%
- Multi-Brand Retail: 67.33%
- Pet Care & Veterinary Services: 60.22%
- Food & Beverage: 38.16%
- Consumer Goods: 33.59%
Several factors influence industry-specific cart abandonment rates, such as how urgently a purchase is needed, the available product choices, where your customer prefers to shop, and whether your customer is just browsing or intending to buy.
Your customers might also encounter false declines, when a legitimate transaction is incorrectly rejected. This happens for various reasons. For instance, a payment might be flagged as fraudulent, or there could be an issue in the payment processing flow. Regardless of the cause, the result is the same: frustrated customers and lost revenue.
Reducing false declines requires deliberate action. In the following sections, we focus on practical measures to help improve your payment authorization rates.
Why do people abandon their online shopping carts?
Consumers abandon shopping carts for various reasons, and while some of these reasons are well-known, our research reinforces these findings and adds further insights. Below are findings from our UK-based ecommerce survey on why shoppers abandon their carts:
- Extra costs are too high: Nearly half of surveyed shoppers cite high delivery costs as the main reason for abandonment, especially when combined with long delivery times.
- The checkout is too long and confusing: The checkout process ranks as the fifth most frustrating aspect for online shoppers.
- Payment security concerns: 51% of our respondents worry about how safe online transactions are. When shoppers feel their payment security worries are correctly handled, nearly 47% are more likely to return and finalize transactions.
- Lack of preferred payment options: 69% of shoppers may abandon carts that don’t offer their preferred payment methods, while a slow payment process can deter 76% of potential buyers.
Learn more about why people abandon their carts here.
The impact of cart abandonment on businesses
High cart abandonment rates aren’t just a statistic. They can affect your business’ growth, profitability, and customer trust. Here's why.
Revenue and acquisition cost impact
When your customers abandon their shopping carts, you lose revenue at the final step in the purchase journey. But it doesn’t stop there. Cart abandonment makes every sale more expensive to achieve. You spend more on advertising and retargeting to win back shoppers and get them to complete their purchases, boosting your acquisition costs and hurting your bottom line.
Damaged customer relationships
Cart abandonment also impacts how your customers view your business. If customers leave their carts due to payment failures or security concerns, it causes frustration and erodes trust. High cart abandonment rates signal checkout or shopping experience issues, discouraging customers from returning. Over time, this harms the brand's reputation and weakens customer loyalty.
Business insight challenges
Cart abandonment can inaccurately represent sales performance, revenue, and customer behavior. Conversion rate, average order value, and revenue per visitor may appear lower than they are, as abandoned carts are not factored into completed transactions. Without understanding these metrics, you risk making decisions based on incomplete data, whether in marketing campaigns or misguided inventory planning.
Best practices for reducing average cart abandonment rates
Below are practical steps you can take to reduce average cart abandonment rates and boost conversions.
Streamline the checkout process
Focus on the following areas to reduce friction at the finish line :
- Diversify payment options, providing various preferences such as digital wallets, local payment methods,, and buy-now-pay-later solutions.
- Enable a seamless one-click checkout feature that expedites the payment journey.
- Reduce transaction failures by actively monitoring, testing, and optimizing your payment performance.
Be transparent about all costs
Unexpected fees are one of the fastest ways to lose a sale. When you’re clear about product prices, shipping fees, taxes, and any potential additional charges upfront, it builds trust and confidence in purchasing. Transparency improves the overall shopping experience and reduces the likelihood of cart abandonment.
Embrace automation
Automation is a big trend, with 91% of retailers already investing in it or planning to. Automation can help guide your customers through checkout, offer personalized recommendations, and remove any friction through the payment journey. This isn’t a short-term fix, this is ongoing targeted optimization. That means monitoring performance, identifying friction points, and adjusting payment logic over time to reduce cart abandonment more effectively.
Automate smarter and faster with Primer.
Reward loyal customers
A substantial 36% of consumers now see loyalty programs as essential. Retaining existing customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Exclusive discounts, personalized offers, and early access to new products can encourage your customers to complete purchases and strengthen their commitment to your brand.
How Primer helps you reduce cart abandonment
Primer addresses the payment side of cart abandonment across checkout, authorization, and authentication. With Primer Checkout, Fallbacks, and 3D Secure (3DS) working together, you can recover more revenue without adding friction for your customers. These are just a few of the ways Primer helps.
Start reducing card abandonment with Primer
There is no question that cart abandonment significantly impacts your revenue, costs, customer relationships, and operational efficiency. However, a positive outlook still exists.
By benchmarking against industry standards, cart abandonment rates, and embracing best practices, you can ensure you’re not just keeping pace with competitors but potentially moving ahead of them.
Reducing cart abandonment starts with understanding its root causes. Tactics like simplifying checkout, offering diverse payment options, and improving payment performance all contribute to higher conversion rates and sustainable growth.
Discover how Primer Checkout empowers merchants to build a world-class checkout experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the average cart abandonment rate in ecommerce?
The average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is around 70%, meaning roughly seven out of ten shoppers add items to their cart but leave before completing the purchase. However, the rate varies significantly by industry. For example, sectors like beauty, fashion, and luxury often see abandonment rates above 75%, while food and consumer goods typically experience lower rates.
Why do customers abandon their shopping carts?
Customers abandon their carts for several reasons, including unexpected costs such as shipping or taxes, long or complicated checkout processes, limited payment options, and concerns about payment security. Slow checkout experiences or failed payments can also cause shoppers to abandon a purchase before completing it.
How can businesses reduce cart abandonment rates?
Businesses can reduce cart abandonment by simplifying the checkout process, clearly displaying all costs upfront, offering preferred payment methods such as digital wallets and local payment options, and ensuring payment reliability. Optimizing payment performance, reducing false declines, and providing a fast, frictionless checkout experience can significantly improve conversion rates.
Do payment failures contribute to cart abandonment?
Yes. Payment failures, including false declines where legitimate transactions are incorrectly rejected, can lead directly to cart abandonment. When customers encounter payment issues at checkout, they may leave the site rather than retry the purchase. Monitoring payment performance and optimizing authorization rates can help reduce these lost sales.
Why are payment methods important for reducing cart abandonment?
Customers often expect to see familiar and convenient payment options at checkout. If their preferred method isn’t available, many shoppers will abandon the purchase. Supporting a range of payment methods like cards, digital wallets, and local payment options, helps create a smoother checkout experience and increases the likelihood of conversion.
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