Online shopping is growing in popularity. And there’s not much more proof needed than Black Friday 2018. Reports show that 165 million people hit the web to shop, leaving in-store foot traffic down 5 to 9 percent, according to RetailNext. But online cart abandonment is a real problem for stores that rely on their eCommerce site to help supplement their brick and mortar business’ profit.
If you are a savvy business owner, you probably already have an eCommerce presence or are at least working on getting one up soon. But with the ever-growing boom in online shopping, your eCommerce site needs to keep shoppers engaged. It’s much easier to leave a virtual cart and shop online somewhere else then it is to drive from store to store. And that is why online cart abandonment is a quickly growing concern for online retailers.
Fickle consumers can find better prices, easier checkout, and faster shipping with just a mouse click. In a December 2018 online shopper study on online cart abandonment, consumers who add items to their cart only to not complete the full transaction shows that 56% do so because of unexpected prices. These prices can be additional fees, taxes, or even high shipping rates. In fact, high shipping cost was cited in 44% of all consumers leaving an eCommerce site without finalizing their purchase. How can you avoid these two main reasons for cart abandonment? Put yourself in a consumer’s shoes and walk through making a purchase on your eCommerce site. While making a purchase, look to see if all costs are clearly stated up front, before even adding the product to the cart. Does the product description include the full and total cost, does it note anywhere in the description that taxes will be added (and what percentage that tax will be)? Do you have it clearly stated how much shipping will cost and the time frame of the shipment?
Shipping is a touchy subject for many online retailers. Consumers want cheap, if not free, shipping that arrives quickly. Some eCommerce sites offer free shipping but tally the cost into the overall price. If that makes your product uncompetitive, try to find ways to reduce costs elsewhere so free, or near-free shipping can be offered.
Checkout needs to be simple, with as few steps and complications as possible and it needs to be secure. Surprisingly, the number of consumers who abandon because of these issues isn’t as immense as unexpected costs and high shipping, but it’s large enough.
Let’s look at why online cart abandonment happens. 25% of online shoppers leave an eCommerce site after adding products into their cart because of complicated navigation. 18% leave because of excessive security checks (ex. Involved captcha, math problems, or having to click on similar-themed photos). And 17% leave because of concerns about the security of inputting their credit card. These can be easily solved by offering your eCommerce on an https site, rather than http. The “s” means secure. In addition to offering online shopping on a secure part of your website, add a trusted badge, like Verisign, PayPal Verified, BBB Accredited Business, Hacker Safe, or Truste Certified Privacy.
It’s tough enough for small business to compete in an online world where one click can get a consumer almost anything shipped to them for free the next day. So it’s a small business’ responsibility to help the consumer that has chosen to support them by making the online transaction as easy and smooth as possible.