Shopping cart abandonment in the US has risen, with 60% of US online retailers seeing shopping cart abandonments increasing to over 20% (econsultancy). This is obviously a big issues not only for US retailers but for retailers in the UK, as many of the issues leading to consumer clicking off a shopping cart are universal.

• High shipping costs
• Lack of security at check out
• Complicated payment procedure
• Change of mind
• Lengthy forms to fill in

These are all reasons for customers not completing a transactions, many people also add items to the shopping cart with no intention of purchasing them at all. Instead using the shopping cart as a wish list style functionality- digital equivilant of trying a heap of lovely clothes on in the shop just for the fun of it.

How can retailers prevent shopping cart abandonment?

There is no sure answer, if someone isn’t going to buy then they won’t buy, but there are certain ways that you can further entice a customer, make it easier for them to purchase and give them comfort as they purchase.

Many experts discuss the value of having a seperate shopping cart. An enclosed shopping cart, as it is also known as, is one which leads the shopper to an isolated page whereby they cannot easily refer back to browsing, there are no menu options to continue shopping etc. Once in the enclosed shopping cart the shopper will have very little distraction to lead them away from the job at hand.

Simplify the check out process as much as possible. One of the most effective online retails must be the iTunes store, why? They make it so easy to randomly buy items, you don’t have to add things to a shopping cart, you see something, you click to buy and voila you have bought some music. Dangerous for compulsive shopppers, good for retailers. Apple go to great strengths to simplify the purchase proceedure and have practically eliminated the shopping cart completely from the iTunes store. Although not an option to every online retailer it does exemplify a very obvious point that by simplifying the payment procedure you will make it easier for customers to spend money in you store.
Minimise the steps people have to go through, avoid a complex form and allow returning customer to save their details.

Security is a major factor when it comes to whether a shopper buys or not, with online fraud on the rise a customer needs peace of mind that they are buying from a safe, secure and reliable business. Make sure you communicate clearly the secure server and payment gateway you have in place.

If shopping cart abandonment is high then it is always wise reassessing the postage costs, are they too high? Look at the competition P&P and ensure you are lower. Play.com is an example example of this, although they have low prices they are not necessarily the lowest, but customers will return time and time again, why? Because they offer free postage and packaging on all items.