Last year, the online shopping abandonment rate in the United States was as high as 54%! What should sellers do?

According to a shopping survey report of 2,094 Americans conducted by PYMNTS and ElasticPath, half of online shoppers of clothing, accessories and home furnishings gave up their orders after adding items to cart last year.

The survey found that 54% of consumers abandoned a purchase of clothing and accessories in the past 12 months, and 47% abandoned a purchase of home furnishings. The most common reasons for consumers abandoning their shopping carts were shipping costs and product prices.

Of those who have given up buying clothing and accessories online, 38% said they did so because shipping costs were too high, while 36% said they did so because they found the products cheaper elsewhere.

These were also the top two reasons cited by home furnishing online shoppers, but these shoppers ranked them differently. Among home furnishing shoppers, 40% said they found products cheaper elsewhere, and 37% said delivery costs were too high.

It’s not just fashion and home categories, in a 2021 survey of US shoppers, 49% of respondents said they abandoned their online shopping cart due to additional cost-related reasons. These “extra costs” refer to shipping costs, taxes, or additional fees.

While additional costs were the main reason for cart abandonment, the need to create an account, slow delivery, and a lengthy or complicated checkout process also accounted for a large number of cart abandonments.

For sellers, abandoned carts not only mean invalid traffic, but also may result in a waste of advertising fees. After identifying the common reasons for abandoned carts, sellers need to implement corresponding strategies to solve these obstacles.

For example, brands and advertisers can use first-time purchase incentives and limited-time promotions to entice buyers to place orders as soon as possible. Sellers can also entice buyers to place orders by showing how many other users viewed the product and purchased it.

The former method stimulates buyers to place orders by providing limited-time discounts, while the latter method uses the urgency of inventory to get buyers to place orders.

From the perspective of reasons for abandoned purchases, sellers offering free shipping services can greatly reduce the abandonment rate. Regardless of which method is used, the key for sellers is to find the gaps in the buyer's shopping experience and then prescribe the right remedy.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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