Seven Fascinating Stats on Ecommerce and Cart Abandonment

With the end of 2016 fast approaching, we list some of the best e-commerce and cart abandonment rate statistics we’ve seen this year.

1 SMS Remarketing

We won a MOMA Award for our work with Firefly on SMS Remarketing. The stats below give an idea of just how effective SMS can be.

2 Which Days Have Most Abandonments?

Based on data from more than a billion abandoned carts, we know that Tuesday is the ‘worst’ day of the week for cart abandonment.
Fewest abandonments happen on a Saturday between 8 and 9pm, while abandonment is lowest around Christmas and similar sale periods, as people have less reason to delay purchases.

3 Add to Cart Rates by Device

Add to cart rates are highest on desktop and tablet devices (10.4% and 10.3% respectively). Overall conversion rates were 2.5% for Q3 2016.

4 Reasons for Cart Abandonment

Unexpected shipping costs, perhaps revealed late during checkout, are the number one reason cited for cart abandonment.

Other key issues include making customers register before they checkout, concerns about security, and confusing checkout design.

5 Cart Abandonment Rates by Sector

Abandonment rates vary by sector, with fashion retailers enjoying the lowest abandonment rates.
Relatively easy purchase processes and ease of return help here, and also explain why retail abandonment is lower in general.
Travel and finance abandonment is highest, partly due to the generally longer application processes, and perhaps the relative lack of digital maturity when compared to retail.

6 Sales by Hour on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Using data from our clients, we had a look at sales and abandonments on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2016.
The chart below shows sales patterns compare to a ‘normal’ shopping day, as well as the peak times for during the Black Friday weekend.
The peak period for completed sales was between 8 and 10am on Black Friday morning, while the second peak happened on Monday evening as the sales were coming to a close.

7 Why People Abandon Travel Bookings

Many travel bookings tend to be more considered purchases, with customers taking 45 days and visiting multiple sites before making a decision.
So the reasons for abandonment are different from retail. Indeed, the top two reasons are around research and price comparison while retail abandonment tends to be about checkout process issues.