Having your visitors get as far as the checkout and then losing them can be very frustrating, but it happens a lot more than most people think. According to comScore, around two thirds of shopping carts on retail websites are abandoned before a purchase is made, and while this is quite often due to comparison shoppers visiting without any intention of buying at that moment, there are a number of problems that could be effecting your online store. Consider the following top reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

Lack of Payment Options

According to a recent comScore study in 2014, a lack of payment options was blamed for around 25% of cases where shopping carts were abandoned. Every online shopper has their own payment preferences, and a lot of people aren't comfortable with providing their payment details directly to an online store that they haven't dealt with before. For this reason, many people prefer to use a widely known and trusted payment companies such as PayPal, Stripe or Amazon Payments. Always provide a wide range of payment options to ensure that no one is missing out.

Forced to Register

A lot of people are not interested in signing up for an account and filling in a whole lot of forms just to make a single purchase. While having an account might make more sense and even be more convenient for regular customers, it is generally not a good idea to force people to sign up when they just want to make a one-off purchase. Instead, consider making it optional for those who intend to become regular customers, and better still, provide them with an incentive to do so. According to comScore's survey, some 28% of people abandoned a shopping cart because they didn't want to spend time registering an account just to make a one-time purchase.

Expensive Delivery

comScore's study revealed that the number-one cause for shopping cart abandonment was expensive shipping, with 58% of consumers in the US stating it as a major reason for looking elsewhere. Companies are under increasing pressure to provide free shipping, particularly if delivery is going to take more than a day or two. Closely related to delivery prices are delivery times, and excessively long delivery times are another major reason (28%) for people to abandon their shopping carts. To solve this problem, make certain that you are using an excellent courier and that you provide a wide range of shipping options, including free ones.

Aggressive Upselling

Upselling is an essential part of the e-commerce process, but it is also one that a lot of retail websites constantly abuse. Just as people don't want to be bombarded by pushy salespeople when they go to the mall, they don't want to be interrupted and distracted by intrusive advertising when they're browsing through your online store. Instead, upselling should be relegated to helpful recommendations based on past visitor/customer activities and displayed in a non-intrusive way in the form of suggestions accompanied by thumbnail images and short descriptions. Never use popups or anything else that might interrupt the customer journey.

Hidden Costs

Unless you're a budget airline that specializes in a lot of hidden costs and small print, the prices that you display on your retail website should be inclusive of everything, and there should be absolutely no unpleasant surprises. The shopping basket, accompanied by the current total price including packing and delivery should be displayed on the website at all times so that the potential customer knows exactly how much he or she is spending. Additionally, if there are any optional extras during checkout, such as extended product warranties, always make sure that they are unselected by default.


While the above list is by no means complete, it does illustrate some of the most common reasons for shopping cart abandonment. There are also many other factors to consider, such as the usefulness of your product descriptions, the provision of high-quality images and the usability and performance of your website.

Are you looking for a better e-commerce solution? Emagine offers a top-level e-commerce solution for its customers. For more information on our e-commerce solution, contact us at (712) 262-6674.

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