25+ Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics [2023]: Ecommerce Industry Facts You Need To Know

Research Summary. Online shopping is easier and more popular than ever, but it can be frustrating to retailers when they’ve successfully gotten their potential customers to their website and are interested in making a purchase, only for them to abandon their cart and not convert. Here are some statistics about cart abandonment in online retail:

• The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.82%.

• Over 80% of mobile shoppers abandon their carts.

• Up to 70% of shoppers abandon their carts when they see shipping costs.

• $18 billion is lost to cart abandonment each year.

• 18% of online shoppers would rather not purchase than go through a complicated checkout process.

• The conversation rate of abandoned cart emails is over 10%.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Cart Abandonment Reasons | Ways to Prevent Cart Abandonment | Abandonment Rates by Device | Email Marketing

Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics by Top Reasons for Cart Abandonment

• 49% of shoppers abandon their carts due to high shipping or tax costs.

• 24% of shoppers abandoned their cart because they were forced to make an account.

• 19% of shoppers abandoned their carts because delivery would be too slow.

• 18% of shoppers abandoned their carts because the checkout process was too long or complicated.

• 17% of shoppers abandoned their carts because they didn’t trust the site enough to give their credit card information.

• 17% of shoppers abandoned their carts because they couldn’t see their order total upfront.

• 12% of shoppers abandoned their carts because the website crashed or had other errors.

• 11% of shoppers abandoned their carts because the return policy wasn’t satisfactory.

• 7% of shoppers abandoned their carts due to a lack of payment options.

• 4% of shoppers abandoned their carts because their credit card was declined.

Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics by Ways to Prevent Cart Abandonment

• 79% of people are more likely to shop online when they’re offered free shipping.

  In addition, 54% say they’re more likely to shop online when free returns or exchanges are guaranteed.

  What was once a perk is now an expectation, especially for customers under 25. Over half of this demographic says that same-day shipping is the number one factor that drives them to make a purchase online, and next-day shipping and free returns and exchanges follow closely behind.

• Retargeted ads result in 30% of non-converting shoppers returning to the website where they abandoned their carts.

  Retargeted ads include display ads and Facebook ads, both of which allow advertisers to show specific ads to specific groups of people.

  In this case, a company would show ads to people who had been shopping on their website but hadn’t purchased anything in hopes that they’d decide they actually want to buy something and return to make a purchase.

• The automotive industry has the highest cart abandonment rate, and the grocery industry has the lowest rate.

  Cart Abandonment Rates by Industry

  Industry	Cart Abandonment Rate
  Automotive	89.11%
  Airlines	88.87%
  Fashion	88.57%
  Luxury	87.79%
  Travel	85.22%
  Baby & Child	85.1%
  Cruise & Ferry	83.96%
  Hotel	82.71%
  Car Rental	80.83%
  Gardening & DIY	80.21%
  Mobile Providers	76.68%
  Department Store	76.63%
  Retail	76.34%
  Sports & Outdoor	75.67%
  Cosmetics	75.35%
  Pharmaceutical	71.51%
  Consumer Electronics	70.65%
  Groceries	61.13%

Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics by Device

• The average cart abandonment rate is 69.82%.

  This average comes from 46 reports made from 2006 through 2021, so it can and does fluctuate regularly. However, it’s more than safe to say that over half of all online shopping carts are abandoned at any given time.

• More shoppers abandon carts when shopping on mobile phones than on their desktop computers.

  In Q2 of 2021, the cart abandonment rate was 80.6% on mobile phones and 66.1% on desktops.

  These rates were down from the previous quarter when they were 82.4% for mobile phones and 67.6% for desktop.

  

• 63% of online shoppers who use mobile apps to shop prefer them because they’re more convenient than mobile sites.

  57% of these users also say retail apps are faster than websites, 40% say they improve user experience by storing user settings, and 31% say they offer better benefits and rewards than websites.

  Apps are responsible for more and more mobile sales, especially for stores that prioritize creating an excellent customer experience.

  

Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics by Email Marketing

• The average open rate of abandoned cart emails is 45%.

  This means that almost half of your abandoned cart email recipients will open your email reminding them that they left items behind.

  In addition, the average click-through rate of abandoned cart emails is 21%, which means that 21% of people will actually click on the email and return to your website.

• The conversion rate of abandoned cart emails is over 10%.

  This means that if you send an email reminding shoppers about their abandoned carts, more than 10 out of 100 of your customers who got that email will go back and make a purchase.

• Sending multiple abandoned cart emails works 63% better than sending a single email.

  This doesn’t mean just sending the same email three times in a row: It means sending a strategic series of emails that remind customers that they left something behind and that give them more incentive to return and complete their purchase.

  For example, just a few hours after they abandon their carts, you can send a basic reminder email. If that doesn’t trigger a purchase, send another reminder a few days later, and then maybe a coupon or code for free shipping a few days after that to sweeten the pot.

Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics FAQ

1. How do you calculate cart abandonment rate?

   To calculate cart abandonment rate, divide the number of carts abandoned during a given time period by the total number of carts created during that same time period.

   For example, if during three months your online retail site had 568 carts created, but 254 of those were abandoned, you’d divide 254 by 568. This gives you 0.447, which can be expressed as 44.7%. So, your cart abandonment rate for those three months is 44.7%.

   Once you know how to calculate this statistic, it becomes easier to track it to see if your efforts to reduce cart abandonment have worked. You can also research your industry’s average cart abandonment rate to make sure you aren’t falling significantly behind your competitors.

2. What is the average cart abandonment rate?

   The average cart abandonment rate is 69.82%. Since this is an average, the true number may be significantly lower or higher for some companies – many companies see cart abandonment rates as high as 89%.

   The automotive industry, for example, has the highest cart abandonment rate at 89.11%, but the airline and fashion industries follow closely behind at 88.87% and 88.57%, respectively.

   The grocery industry has the lowest cart abandonment rate at 61.13%, followed by consumer electronics at a rate of 70.65%.

3. What is a good checkout abandonment rate?

   A percentage below the average rate of 69.82% is a good checkout abandonment rate. Some industries will have more difficulty than others when it comes to pushing their cart abandonment below this rate, so check on the average for your industry to get a more accurate benchmark to aim for.

   For example, if you work in an industry that typically sees a higher-than-average cart abandonment rate, you’ll likely be content with a rate that is lower than your industry’s standards, even if it’s higher than the overall average.

   If, on the other hand, you work in an industry that has a cart abandonment rate that is lower than the overall average, you’ll want to make sure you’re hitting below your industry’s rate and not just the overall one.

4. What is a cart conversion rate?

   A cart conversion rate is the percentage of carts that end up as a sale. This may be a customer that checks out the first time they create a cart, or it may be someone who initially abandons their cart but eventually comes back to complete their purchase.

   Depending on what kind of tracking technology they use, companies keep tabs on this data in a variety of ways, but at the end of the day, it’s just a marker of how many of the people who went so far as to add something to their online carts actually completed the checkout process.

Conclusion

As online shopping has become more and more prominent, so has the practice of customers adding items to their virtual cart and then leaving the website without making a purchase. On average, 69.82% of shopping carts are abandoned, which converts to about $18 billion in revenue lost each year.

Cart abandonment is most prolific on mobile devices, as 80% of mobile shoppers abandon their virtual shopping carts. Cart abandonment rates are also highest in the automotive, airline, and fashion industries, and they’re lowest when customers shop for groceries, consumer electronics, and pharmaceuticals.

These customers bail on their purchases for various reasons, the most common one being shipping or tax costs. Often customers don’t have these costs in mind when making their selections, so they’re surprised when they’re higher than they expected them to be.

Other reasons shoppers cite for abandoning their carts include being forced to make an account, slow delivery, or checkout processes that are too long and complicated.

References

1. Dynamic Yield. “The Art and Science of Killer Abandoned Cart Emails.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

2. Statista. “Main Reasons Why Consumers in the United States Abandoned Their Orders During the Checkout Process in 2021.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

3. Walker Sands Communications. “The Future of Retail 2018.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

4. Unific. “Abandoned Cart: The Ultimate Guide.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

5. Statista. “Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate in Selected Industries in March 2021.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

6. Baymard Institute. “46 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

7. Statista. “Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate in the United States From 2nd Quarter 2020 to 2nd Quarter 2021, by Device.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

8. Clearbridge Mobile. “The Top Mobile Shopping Issues Your Customers Are Facing.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

9. Moosend. “[Infographic] Cart Abandonment Rate & Reasons.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

10. HubSpot. “The 11 Best Abandoned Cart Emails To Win Back Customers.” Accessed on March 3, 2022.

Author

Abby McCain

Abby is a writer who is passionate about the power of story. Whether it’s communicating complicated topics in a clear way or helping readers connect with another person or place from the comfort of their couch. Abby attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in writing with concentrations in journalism and business.