The Abandonment Of Shopping Carts

Was there are time that you went shopping in your local supermarket, you pick the stuff you want to buy and then at the last minute you abandon your cart. That explains why there are plenty of items left on the counter, ever noticed that? This particular situation happens not only in supermarkets but also with online stores.

People flock a web site, find something they really like but then end up leaving the stuff they put on their cart. Basically, shopping cart abandonment happens when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase. Shopping cart abandonment suggests not just a loss of orders but it also means a loss to your business. If you have higher shopping cart abandonment rate, it suggests a lower conversion rate and you will have to work harder to achieve your business goals.

The main goal of an online business is to sell goods / services, and shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss. So, it is important for an entrepreneur to know the reasons why a customer abandons their cart.'

Here are some reasons why they do so:

• Expensive shipping prices or long delivery times

• Total cost of purchased items is high

• Checkout process is tedious

• Site requires registration before purchase

• The site is unstable

• Checkout process is confusing

I have narrowed down the list of reasons to those which are controllable. Meaning as the entrepreneur you can do something about these things and hence avoid cart abandonment. Always remember that cart abandonment is a definite NO for any business be it offline or online.