Brits abandon over £20bn worth of goods from their online shopping baskets each year, according to new research.
While more than half of UK shoppers (57%) make an online purchase at least once a week, research from payments provider Mollie shows that 51% of Brits have abandoned their shopping cart in the last seven days – including 14% on the day of the survey, which questioned the habits and experiences of 1,000 consumers.
Over a period of a year, figures show that the average UK shopper will abandon six baskets, containing £68 worth of products per basket – giving a grand total of £20.6bn of goods that never make it through the checkout process.
The top items that are abandoned are:
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Fashion (35%)
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Food and drink (12%)
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Health and beauty (12%)
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Technology (9%)
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Gifts for others (8%)
Of those that have neglected a minimum of one cart in the last six months, 93% cited a lack of preferred payment method at the checkout as the reason why they chose not to go ahead with up to ten separate purchases.
The absence of Paypal, Apple Pay and Klarna (buy now, pay later) would be the most likely to put shoppers off from completing the process.
Josh Guthrie, UK country manager at Mollie, commented: “There are many reasons someone would abandon a shopping cart, other than the fact they’ve simply changed their mind. As we know, the cost of living has been increasing across the UK over the last year, affecting the affordability of goods.
“Some people may put together ‘fantasy baskets’ – the online equivalent to window shopping – without any intention to go ahead with the purchase, while others may have every intention of paying, but have second thoughts when they get to the checkout because they simply cannot afford it.
“What we also know from this research is just how important it is to meet shoppers where they are i.e. provide them with the payment methods that suit them. The more personalised and adaptable businesses can be, the more likely they are to build brand loyalty among customers”.
One in five carts (21%) are dumped between 4pm and 8pm, and 17% between 8pm and 12am, with the majority of baskets containing up to ten items.
The survey data shows that discovering a product on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest) is most likely to result in a neglected shopping basket, as opposed to baskets that have been put together as a result of direct search, or Google search.
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