Cart, or basket, abandonment is consistently one of the biggest pain points of online retailers. It's time to take this problem more seriously, otherwise, your sales numbers may only be one-third of what they might be. 

According to Baymard Institute’s 2019 study, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69%. That means on average seven out of every ten customers on your eCommerce store bail without making the purchase.   

Some more startling data for retailers:  

• The travel industry has one of the greatest abandonment rates of 85% (source)  
• Completion rates on desktop and tablets hover around 13% - but mobile completion rates stand at just 8.5% (source)  
• Average eCommerce abandonment rates are as high as 87%, and it increases on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays - as high as 90% (Ibid.) 

How To Calculate Your Store`s Cart Abandonment Rate? 

To calculate the cart abandonment rate, divide the total number of completed purchases by the number of created carts. Subtract from one, then multiply by 100.  

Formula: 1 - (completed purchases / total initiated carts) x 100 = cart abandonment rate

For example, if you have 100 carts created, and 75 completed purchases, then your cart abandonment rate is 25%. 

What Are The Reasons For Shopping Cart Abandonment?

When you search over the internet, you`ll find most websites talk about these cart abandonment reasons:

• When you force them to create an account before checkout. 
• When your checkout process is too long or complicated.  
• When you fail to gain customer trust. 
• When your store shows unusual errors/crashes. 
• When you don't have sufficient stock on hand.
• When you offer limited payment options.

• When you have negative product reviews.
• When they have a less-than-positive experience.

But in our research, we found many cases where cart abandonment happens due to less effective order fulfillment strategies. By less effective order fulfillment strategy, we mean: 

1. Hidden Costs At Checkout

Online customers see shipping as a cost to be borne by the retail store. The ultimate cost for their purchase is no longer expected to go above or beyond. Extra costs — like shipping costs and taxes can unexpectedly raise the overall cost of an item. This frustrates many shoppers, causing them to abandon their shopping carts. Customers often feel overcharged when forced to pay ever-increasing shipping costs. 

2. Limited Carrier Options For Shipping

This comes as a surprise for the customers. If you offer a flat shipping price, regardless of order size. Or you ship their order again by a courier they've had an unpleasant experience with in the past. In such cases, your customers can abandon their shopping cart, leaving the purchase in suspension. 

3. Undesirable Or Late Delivery Dates

Customers expect their orders to reach within the agreed timeframes or a reasonable timeframe. If there is any fulfillment error that can delay shipment arrival, it could be the last purchase from that customer. Once you lose customers due to late deliveries, you can expect negative word of mouth and online reviews, which will make it harder to retain existing customers and reduce cart abandonment. 

4. Lack of Free/Discounted Shipping 

Lack of free shipping or no shipping discount can be a deal-breaker. It is a key contributing factor in shopping cart abandonment. Free shipping encourages people to spend more than usual when your online customers are passing through your checkout process. The prospect of not paying additional shipping charges for goods purchased online is a very attractive proposition for consumers, and they will be more than willing to buy from you repeatedly.

Now you know how bleak things are for eCommerce retailers, let's talk about what you can do to reduce shopping cart abandonment. 

How To Reduce Cart Abandonment And Increase Conversions? 

The good news is there are plenty of great services out there to eliminate these dilemmas of shopping cart abandonment and protect your conversion rate. 

In particular, FenixCommerce is a popular choice among online retailers. Charge Bike, Grayl, Priority Bikes, and some other leading eCommerce brands are leveraging this AI-powered automation solution to simplify the consumer journey and experience. Its AI engine analyses real-time product, cart, inventory, operational, customer, and carrier data to create individually personalized shipping options and costs. 

Here are some benefits of AI-powered delivery software: 

• Selectively incentivize purchase using intelligent order promotions.
• Suggest personalized shipping options based on customer location, inventory levels and location, product parameters, and carrier contracts.
• Offers the most cost-effective services and ensures delivery within the agreed timeframes.
• Promote product-margin-based and cart-margin-based shipping options.
• Provide a dedicated order tracking page to track shipments in real-time. 
• Send customers real-time updates about package location and delivery issues. 
• Audit your shipments and individually address the reasons for delayed deliveries that are most prevalent. 

FenixCommerce assures on-time delivery with extensive resources that facilitate efficient scaling and anticipate delays due to spikes in shipment delivery volumes. Its advanced automation offers online retailers absolute visibility into shipments while preventing delays due to lost packages, vehicle breakdowns, failed delivery attempts, traffic, and more. 

If you’re relying on an eCommerce fulfillment process that is disorganized and complicated, your shipping timelines won’t be in line with the demands of your customer base - which means you`re less likely to retain your existing customers, reduce your cart abandonment rate, and boost your customer lifetime value.

Time to say goodbye to your eCommerce fulfillment challenges and hello to the future of fulfillment – FenixCommerce.