How to increase sales by reducing online shopping cart abandonment in the clothing and apparel industry: a digital marketing student’s analysis.
Online retailers are losing up to 67% of their potential revenue due to several identifiable e commerce barriers (Contributor, 2013). The shopping process requires a level of transparency from the act to convert stage, meaning that some consumers will hesitate if they are faced with unexpected costs that they did not foresee. This can come if in the form of card payment processing costs that are often seen as unnecessary considering the value of one’s basket further perpetuated by the competition for price online and the ability to shop around if one is not happy with these costs (Moore and Mathews, 2006). Shipping costs should also be clearly identifiable on the website as some consumers shop with a budget and allocate their purchases accordingly, including the shipping costs in the overall expenditure. Therefore, the ability to understand shipping costs before the shopping experience begins is often necessary and should include a variety of delivery options that satisfy the needs of the consumer (Smith, 2014). I have found this particularly prominent as I am a student and often start with a budget, so knowing what I have to work with minus the shipping costs is definitely handy.
The website conversion stage must also fill the needs of the consumer as this is the stage the consumer spends the most time in on average. Websites that time out or crash often deter users from conversion as buying behaviour dictates an efficient browsing experience and incompetent websites often project fears of legitimacy, particularly with small online businesses. This also includes usability and website design. Website navigation is a fundamental process that many find a stimulating process and the parameters for success and fail are small therefore the needs of your targeted demographic must be identified. Some users, more often the older demographic enjoy easy usability with limited options in navigation juxtapose millennials who find basic website designs with no intellectual stimulation off putting (Kumar, 2015). Simple design features such as allowing the user to change the language the website is viewed in or the currency the products are marketed in will ensure that engagement is also improved
Payment is the final hurdle before conversion and is often where the consumer hesitates. Payment security installs confidence in consumers therefore adopting regulated payment process and secured payment options like Paypal, verified by Visa and Mastercard secure code increase the chance of conversion. However excessive payment security checks can deter conversion as consumers often lose patience or change their mind in purchasing (Rajamma, Paswan and Hossain, 2009). Website anti-malware and anti-virus programs provide more security and increase consumer confidence as they reduce the likely hood of viruses and protect data theft. Logos are an important asset here as they quickly indicate to the user that you have alliances with these recognised programs. Shewan (2016) found in a survey that 61% of respondents had not purchased a clothing item online because they did not see any trust logos. A further 76% stated that they decided not to purchase due to them not recognising the trust logos showing that recognised logos matter (Rajamma, Paswan and Hossain, 2009).
Other good examples of shopping cart abandonment reduction techniques include Asos’s email reminder tactic. If you abandon a cart Asos will follow up with email alerts offering you the goods at a reduced price or reminding you that you had abandoned your cart (Stacey, 2017). It is known that consumers enter and exit buying states that are determined by their shopping experience. Often consumers forget the stimuli that made them abandon their cart therefore reminding them by email later can convert into sales providing the stimuli that made them hesitate is no longer present (Kukar-Kinney and Close, 2009). I have found email reminders to be annoying because of the amount of spam I already get but I have purchased from them before.
Asos also remove the need to register with them which makes the purchase process shorter reducing the timeframe the consumer has to hesitate. Lengthy purchase processes increase the chance of abandonment as the consumer has more time to find stimuli or reasons for hesitation, and as many purchases are impulsive this technique is very effective (Cho, Kang and Cheon, 2006).
References
Cho, C., Kang, J. and Cheon, H. (2006). Online Shopping Hesitation. CyberPsychology & Behavior, [online] 9(3), pp.261-274. Available at: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2006.9.261 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].
Contributor, G. (2013). Why Online Retailers Are Losing 67.45% of Sales and What to Do About It. [Blog] Shopify Blogs. Available at: https://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/8484093-why-online-retailers-are-losing-67-45-of-sales-and-what-to-do-about-it [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].
Kukar-Kinney, M. and Close, A. (2009). The determinants of consumers’ online shopping cart abandonment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, [online] 38(2), pp.240-250. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-009-0141-5 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].
Kumar, H. (2015) “Six Ways To Improve The Checkout Experience”, TWICE, [Online], vol. 30, no. 22, pp. 32 Available at: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=237a0058-9291-4222-9dd5-700414151a50%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=110957446&db=buh [Accessed 22 Feb 2017]
Moore, S. and Mathews, S. (2006). An Exploration of Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Syndrome–A Matter of Risk and Reputation. Journal of Website Promotion, [online] 2(1-2), pp.71-88. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15533610802104141 [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Rajamma, R., Paswan, A. and Hossain, M. (2009). Why do shoppers abandon shopping cart? Perceived waiting time, risk, and transaction inconvenience. Journal of Product & Brand Management, [online] 18(3), pp.188-197. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/10610420910957816?journalCode=jpbm [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].
Shewan, D. (2016). 13 Ways to Combat Shopping Cart Abandonment. [Blog] Wordstream. Available at: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/03/17/shopping-cart-abandonment [Accessed 26 Feb. 2017].
Smith, C. (2014). Shipping Costs Are A Top Reason People Abandon Their Shopping Cart. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/chart-shipping-costs-are-a-top-reason-people-abandon-their-shopping-cart-2014-7?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].
Stacey, H. (2017). How ecommerce marketers can create a winning cart abandonment email. [online] Ometria.com. Available at: https://www.ometria.com/blog/the-anatomy-of-a-cart-abandonment-email-examples [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017].