June 24, 2009
The results of a new survey released by PayPal and conducted by comScore show that almost half (45%) of online shoppers abandoned their shopping carts multiple times in the past three weeks due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience.
The most common reason for cart abandonment was high shipping costs, with the average cost of abandoning U.S. shopping carts reaching $109. The survey found that if the user was given shipping costs upfront this could have led to an additional 40% of users completing the purchase.
To help reduce the amount of shopping cart abandonment, PayPal has now introduced an "Instant Update API," that allows merchants to show order details earlier in the process including shipping options, insurance choices and tax totals.
The survey also found that the weak economy still has shoppers suspicious about clicking the purchase button. More than one-third of respondents abandoned the checkout process because they did not plan for all of the expenses; while more than 25 percent left a site to search online for a coupon. The good news is one-third of the shoppers later returned to the same site to make their purchase.
At least a fifth of all U.S. survey respondents cited the following as very important reasons for cart abandonment:
High shipping charges: 46 percent
Wanted to comparison shop: 37 percent
Lack of money: 36 percent
Wanted to look for a coupon: 27 percent
Wanted to shop offline: 26 percent
Couldn't find preferred pay option: 24 percent
Item was unavailable at checkout: 23 percent
Couldn't find customer support: 22 percent
Concerned about security of credit card data: 21 percent
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