• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, November 25, 2001

Industry studies estimate that up to 75 percent of Web consumers abandon their shopping carts before making purchases online. A recent study by Vividence Corporation, offers insight into why users abandon shopping carts. Vividence's study evaluated the experiences of consumers as they used shopping carts on e-commerce sites. According to the study, the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment, and the percentage of consumers citing each as a reason, include:

1. High shipping prices (72%)
2. Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)
3. Changed mind (56%)
4. Saving items for later purchase (51%)
5. Total cost of items is too high (43%)
6. Checkout process is too long (41%)
7. Checkout requires too much personal information (35%)
8. Site requires registration before purchase (34%)
9. Site is unstable or unreliable (31%)
10. Checkout process is confusing (27%)

Jeff Greenberg, president and CEO of Vividence, says "It's a shame that Web retailers are losing so many customers due to issues that can be addressed by focusing on improving the online customer experience. We've seen shopping-cart-abandonment rates drop by up to 25 percent (when online experience improved)."

Read more here.