Although, the National Retail Federation forecasts a 1 percent drop in 2009 U S holiday sales this year, 38 percent of online consumers plan to do more shopping on the Internet.  But on the contrary, shopping cart conversion rates have dwindled by 3.44% this year. For many e-tailers, who are preparing for a high sales season, this requires a review of the Web site’s traffic analytics to determine if there is a prevalence of shopping cart abandonment. [Source: Coremetrics Benchmark Industry Report for U S Retail]

Generally, consumers more often than not, ditch shopping carts due in part to a web design flaw or missing information. Missouri Web site Builders went searching online for the main causes of shopping cart abandonment. Here were some of the findings:

An ill-designed shopping cart.  Some shopping carts have programming glitches, requiring the customer to return to the original page to modify their purchase.

Web design fix: Enhance your shopping cart’s flexibility with different quantities, prices, colors, sizes and other specifications.

Shipping confusion or a delivery fee. Almost three-fourths of Internet consumers claimed that they abandoned a shopping cart due to delivery confusion or because the shipment fee was too high. [Source: Zoomerang]

Web design fix: Describe all shipping options (price, days, service, etc). As a sales incentive, offer free shipping for a minimum purchase.  Also, for other online sales promotions, such as newsletters or Twitter deals, give consumers an incentive to buy now with a free special discount code.

The shopping cart does not identify that an item is out of stock
Specify whether items are in stock. If items aren’t in stock, indicate availability dates.

According to eMarketer, 22 percent of shoppers who abandoned the shopping cart could not find customer service; 23 percent left the check out process because an item was out-of-stock; another 27 percent wanted a coupon code.

Web design fix: Add a trouble ticket or contact field so consumers can quickly submit a question or receive a notification when the product becomes available.

As the most major shopping season of the year heats up, eliminate any confusion during the checkout process. Don’t let shopping cart abandonment hinder your site’s sales. Contact The Net Impact for a free shopping cart analysis.

Related Articles:

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10 Proven Methods To Decrease Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate