Online Shoppers Abandon Due to Unexpectedly High Shipping Fees

“In today’s e-commerce climate, consumers expect their online-shopping experiences to mirror those found in the offline world,” said Arturo Perez-Reyes, professor of e-commerce at the University of California, Berkeley. “This survey shows that consumers are quick to walk away from online purchases when merchants don’t fully disclose critical information, particularly related to cost.”

The study also found that many consumers abandon their purchases for payment-related reasons. Of those surveyed, more than one in five shoppers didn’t complete purchases because their preferred payment option was not offered on the merchant’s Web site. Many shoppers simply think it is too much of a hassle to search for their wallets or purses – 21 percent did not complete online purchases because their wallets were not easily accessible.

Online comparison shopping is also a common reason for checkout abandonment. More than one in four indicated that they wanted to compare items at online and offline stores before making a purchase. However, more than one-third who abandon at checkout said they returned to the merchant’s Web site at a later time to complete the transaction.

A summary of the survey’s findings included:

• 43 percent of consumers didn’t pay for items in their shopping carts because shipping charges were too high
• 36 percent of purchasers didn’t pay for items because they felt the total cost of the purchase was more expensive than anticipated
• 27 percent of shoppers didn’t pay for items because they wanted to comparison shop at other Web sites before making a purchase
• 16 percent of consumers didn’t pay for items because they could not contact customer support to answer questions
• 14 percent of shoppers didn’t pay for items because they forgot their usernames and passwords for their store accounts created with the merchants

The PayPal survey was conducted by comScore from March 25 to April 18, 2008. It surveyed online shoppers in the U.S. who recently abandoned the checkout flow on either a large or small merchant Web site. All respondents were asked about their most recent abandoned sessions.