Retailers lose £18 billion to online cart abandonment

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - 10:04 by Mike Price

In an average year the many retailers that offer safe shopping online to British consumers collectively miss out on £18 billion in sales because of customers abandoning their virtual carts.

This is according to a new study from Barclaycard, which pinpointed the types of products which are most susceptible to being left up in the air before a purchase has been completed.

Everything from high end headphones to knitwear can be found at the top of the list, with each abandoned cart having a typical value of £30, the Telegraph reports.

In 2017 it was found that 41 per cent of people decided not to go through with a stint of safe shopping online after having added products to their basket. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it was millennial consumers who demonstrated the greatest levels of indecision at the checkout.

Of course, it could be argued that younger shoppers are simply more familiar with the ins and outs of e-commerce, so they are better equipped to search around for a bargain and stop using one site if they find an item is cheaper elsewhere.

There are a number of tactics available to retailers that want to minimise cart abandonment rates and increase sales, although they need to be used sparingly in order to avoid annoying customers. This includes issuing email reminders after items have been added to a basket, coaxing people back to complete the purchase.

Report spokesperson, Clare Bailey, also said that e-commerce sites need to streamline the payment process and ensure that visitors do not get put off when they get to the checkout. She said that payment was the last obstacle that needed to be overcome in order to boost sales and slash cart abandonment, especially in a web savvy country like the UK.