A May 2010 report by Forrester Research offers some interesting insights about online shopping behaviour, and particularly, why so many people abandon their online shopping carts before making a purchase.

The report entitled Understanding Shopping Cart Abandonment found that nearly 88% of web buyers have abandoned shopping carts at some point. If online retailers can convert only a small percentage of these lost sales, the effect on their bottom line could prove significant.

"Cart abandonment highlights the opportunity for retailers to recover lost sales by clearing the path to purchase, clarifying shipping prices and delivery times up front, as well as testing various checkout scenarios."

The report found that consumers who abandoned shopping carts are extremely valuable, they often have higher incomes and are more tech savvy; they also spend more online than those who have not abandoned shopping carts.

A surprising take-away from the report is that a poor shopping cart experience is not always to blame. So then what causes shopping cart abandonment? The answer is multi-faceted, but it's rooted in consumer behavior. Here are a few key points that help us to understand more about this phenomenon.

Comparison shopping: those who abandon shopping carts are 84% more likely to search the web for better deals. Many go through the order process just to ascertain the final cost e.g. shipping, taxes, extra fees etc. They use this knowledge to do comparison shopping.

Cost of shipping: 44% of customers cited that high shipping costs prevented them from going through with their online purchase.

Unprepared to purchase: 41% of those who leave items behind in their shopping cart are not firm on their plan to make a purchase.

Saving it for later: 24% of respondents disclosed that they leave items in their shopping carts for later consideration.
(It should be noted that respondents to the Forrester survey were able to provide more than one reason for why they abandoned online shopping carts.)

So how can we minimize the lost sales online retailers incur every time someone decides to leave right before they enter their credit card number?

• Be upfront about delivery time, shipping costs and extra fees.

• Accept different currencies and be prepared to calculate the taxes for each.

• Research your competitor's pricing and offer a better price or at least one that compares. You may find that the extra sales you garner from a lower price will mitigate the initial hit from a lower margin per item.

• If you are priced competitively, consider incorporating your shipping costs into the price of the product, free shipping can often be the incentive that triggers a consumer to make their purchase.

• Send a reminder email to those who leave items in their shopping carts.

• Make your shopping cart more efficient, eliminate unneeded steps. Try including separate steps onto one page.

• Integrate a coupon code with your shopping cart, this way the consumer will have the added incentive of cashing in when the move toward completing the checkout process.

These are just a few of the things you can do to help reduce the number of customers who create a shopping cart but don't buy anything.

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