44 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics
69.80% – average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate
This value is an average calculated based on these 44 different studies containing statistics on e-commerce shopping cart abandonment.
Abandonment rate statistics:
-
57.60%
according to
Freshrelevance
in
2020
(retrieved Dec 21, 2020)
-
84.27%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2020
(retrieved Dec 21, 2020)
-
77.13%
according to
Barilliance
in
2019
(retrieved Dec 21, 2020)
-
56.82%
according to
Fresh Relevance
in
2018
(retrieved Mar 28, 2019)
-
75.60%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2018
(retrieved Jun 20, 2018)
-
81.40%
according to
AbandonAid
in
2017
(retrieved Jun 20, 2018)
-
76.90%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2017
(retrieved Jun 20, 2018)
-
78.00%
according to
Listrak
in
2016
(retrieved Jan 9, 2017)
-
75.50%
according to
Adobe
in
2016
(retrieved Jan 9, 2017)
-
68.80%
according to
Barilliance
in
2016
(retrieved Jan 9, 2017)
-
74.52%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2016
(retrieved Sep 21, 2016)
-
71.39%
according to
Barilliance
in
2015
(retrieved Jan 14, 2016)
-
68.95%
according to
IBM
in
2015
(retrieved Dec 7, 2015)
-
75.00%
according to
Listrak
in
2015
(retrieved May 8, 2015)
-
75.60%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2015
(retrieved May 8, 2015)
-
68.38%
according to
IBM
in
2014
(retrieved Dec 2, 2014)
-
72.00%
according to
Listrak
in
2014
(retrieved Sep 26, 2014)
-
69.20%
according to
Vibetrace
in
2013
(retrieved Mar 25, 2014)
-
62.30%
according to
Fireclick
in
2014
(retrieved Mar 12, 2014)
-
74.00%
according to
Barilliance
in
2013
(retrieved Mar 12, 2014)
-
67.41%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2013
(retrieved Dec 6, 2013)
-
78.00%
according to
AbandonAid
in
2013
(retrieved Dec 6, 2013)
-
60.32%
according to
Triggered Messaging
in
2013
(retrieved Jul 28, 2013)
-
75.00%
according to
Listrak
in
2013
(retrieved Jul 3, 2013)
-
67.00%
according to
Comscore
in
2012
(retrieved Jul 3, 2013)
-
74.23%
according to
SaleCycle
in
2013
(retrieved Apr 26, 2013)
-
80.30%
according to
Rejoiner
in
2012
(retrieved Feb 14, 2013)
-
61.85%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2012
(retrieved Dec 20, 2012)
-
74.76%
according to
Fireclick / DigitalRiver
in
2012
(retrieved Nov 2, 2012)
-
76.00%
according to
Listrak
in
2012
(retrieved Jul 17, 2012)
-
72.31%
according to
Fireclick / DigitalRiver
in
2011
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
62.31%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2011
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
72.00%
according to
SeeWhy
in
2011
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
71.00%
according to
SeeWhy
in
2010
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
55.00%
according to
Forrester Research
in
2010
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
63.68%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2010
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
69.38%
according to
Fireclick / DigitalRiver
in
2010
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
62.14%
according to
MarketLive
in
2009
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
71.00%
according to
Forrester Research
in
2009
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
63.19%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2009
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
68.00%
according to
SeeWhy
in
2009
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
62.01%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2008
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
61.36%
according to
IBM / Coremetrics
in
2007
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
-
59.80%
according to
MarketingSherpa
in
2006
(retrieved Feb 25, 2012)
Average: 69.80% abandonment rate
Last updated: September 10, 2019
Why this list?
We created this list because we needed some abandonment statistics ourselves for our E-Commerce Checkout Usability study and articles.
When searching for these statistics we found a myriad of articles citing the same sources, as well as large fluctuations in the actual abandonment rates. So to save you and ourselves that hassle we decided to gather all statistics in a single place.
We’ve also calculated an average so it’s easy to cite just one number instead of 44 different ones.
Know of any cart abandonment statistics not on this list? Then send an email to christian@baymard.com.
Why Users Abandon
Now in all fairness to the e-commerce industry, a large portion of cart abandonments are simply a natural consequence of how users browse e-commerce sites – many users will be doing window shopping, price comparison, saving items for later, exploring gift options, etc. These are largely unavoidable cart and checkout abandonments.
In fact, our latest quantitative study of reasons for abandonment found that 58.6% of US online shoppers have abandoned a cart within the last 3 months because “I was just browsing / not ready to buy”. Most of these will abandon even before they initiate the checkout flow. However, if we segment out this “just browsing” segment, and instead look at the remaining reasons for abandonments we get the following distribution:
Unlike the “just browsing” segment, a lot of these issues can be resolved. In fact, many of them can be fixed purely through design changes. Let’s take a look at just 1 of 134 examples in our new checkout research study:
- 21% of US online shoppers have abandoned an order in the past quarter solely due to a “too long / complicated checkout process”.
- Now, our large-scale checkout usability testing shows that an ideal checkout flow can be as short as 12-14 form elements (7-8 if only counting the form fields).
- Yet, our checkout benchmark database reveals that the average US checkout flow contains 23.48 form elements displayed to users by default. (14.88 if only counting the form fields.)
In other words, 1 out of 5 shoppers have abandoned a cart in the last quarter due to a “too long / complicated checkout process”, yet for most checkouts it’s possible to make a 20-60% reduction in the number of form elements shown to users during the default checkout flow. And again, this is just 1 of the 134 documented causes for checkout usability issues.
$260 Billion are Recoverable through Checkout Optimizations
If we focus only on checkout usability issues which we – during the past 9 years of large-scale checkout testing at Baymard Institute – have documented to be solvable, the average large-sized e-commerce site can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate though better checkout design. And that is despite testing the checkout flows of large e-commerce sites in the US and EU, such as Walmart, Amazon, Wayfair, Crate & Barrel, ASOS, etc.
If we look at the combined e-commerce sales of $738 billion in the US and EU, the potential for a 35.26% increase in conversion rate translates to $260 billion worth of lost orders which are recoverable solely through a better checkout flow & design.
Now, achieving such gains won’t come easy. But even when we audit leading Fortune 500 companies, who’ve already run a couple of checkout optimization projects, we find that major gains are still possible. And the potential is big: our benchmark of the checkout flows of 50 leading e-commerce sites show the average site has 39 potential areas for checkout improvements.
Learn more about our full checkout research findings.