Checkout friction main cause of abandoned baskets

Retailer’s don’t like abandoned baskets. But why do consumers leave their online shopping carts? In the United Kingdom, friction in the checkout is seen as the biggest driver of basket abandonment. A lack of payment methods and a lack of lending or credit options are other popular reasons for consumers to abandon the payment process.

This is shown by research from Klarna and Ovum on the current priorities of online retailers in the UK. Over half of these sellers (52 percent) believe that friction in the checkout is the main reason for consumers abandoning their shopping cart, while 40 percent think it’s because certain payment methods are missing. And 39 percent suggest it’s a lack of lending or credit options.

‘It’s too complicated and expensive to offer consumer finance’

So, one might say: add more payment and financing options and see how the basket abandonment drops. And that’s also what most retailers agree to: 98 percent think that consumers want new and easier ways to pay online and 78 percent say they would like to introduce consumer finance at the point of sale. But at the same time, 85 percent of retailers think that it is too complicated and expensive to offer consumer finance.

But online retailers should react, because 53 percent of online shoppers are looking for new and easier ways to pay online, while 56 percent said they would buy more online if there were more different payment methods available. The survey also shows that respondents think that 65 percent of retail sales will take place online by 2019, with 12.8 percent of all retail sales then being made on mobile.

‘Improving payment is critical component of ecommerce landscape’

“The UK is amongst the most dynamic and competitive markets when it comes to online and mobile shopping. The fierce levels of competition, combined with an increasingly demanding customer base driven by millennials, is now leading to more experimentation in how we pay”, says Gilles Ubaghs, Principal Analyst with Ovum. “It’s getting harder for retailers to stand out online – improving payments and offering new ways to finance purchases is undoubtedly becoming a critical component of the ecommerce landscape.”