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10 Cart Abandonment Statistics You Need To Know – 2021

10 Cart Abandonment Statistics You Need To Know – 2021


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In this article we have lots of cart abandonment statistics by sector, why people abandon carts, and the items people are leaving behind. 


Cart Abandonment Stats

Our latest data puts the latest cart abandonment rate at 81.08%.

This is the average over hundreds of retailers, and rates between individual sites and sectors will vary.

For example, retailers with checkout processes that are smooth and easy to use may have lower abandonment rates. Utilising conversion rate optimisation services can produce a defined and optimised user-journey.

In the same way, sites in sectors which typically have longer research phases and more complex checkouts (travel for example) will often have higher abandonment rates.


Reasons for Abandonment During Checkout

A recent survey by Baymard looked at the reasons for checkout abandonment, which is slightly different to cart abandonment.

Our cart abandonment stats refer to customers that have added items to their shopping carts, but haven’t gone on to buy.

They may have entered checkout before bailing out, but many won’t have made it that far.

The Baymard data below looks at only those who begin checkout before they abandon a purchase, and why they bailed out.
Cart Abandonment stats reasons for abandonment


Why People Abandon Clothing Purchases

People abandon online fashion purchases for a variety of reasons, so it’s important to explore fashion ecommerce statistics to identify areas you can optimise.

Concerns about product quality, fit and appearance figure strongly, which underlines the challenges fashion retailers face in replicating the key features of in-store shopping, the ability to see products close up, and find the best fit. Selling luxury fashion products online can also be harder than traditional fashion due a different customer base and different buying habits. However, consumer fashion retailers can use tools like promo codes offers to decrease abandonment, which would not be possible within luxury brand marketing.


The Cost of Cart Abandonment

  • According to a Barclaycard survey, British shoppers abandon online baskets worth almost £30 a month, potentially resulting in more than £18bn in lost sales every year.
  • 41% of shoppers have abandoned a transaction during checkout in the past year, compared to 24% who have walked away from a purchase in a physical store.

Most Commonly Abandoned Items

Barclaycard’s survey also identified the items that UK shoppers are most likely to have abandoned.

29% had left women’s clothing in their baskets, while 26% abandoned men’s clothing and entertainment purchases.

The most frequently abandoned items are:

  1. Women’s knitwear
  2. Leather goods.
  3. Women’s lingerie & hosiery
  4. Headphones
  5. Watches
  6. Women’s sportswear
  7. Women’s skirts
  8. Books
  9. Men’s trousers / jeans
  10. Women’s tops & shirts

Why People Abandon Shopping Carts

Using data from feedback surveys sent to customers after abandoning a purchase, these are the six most common reasons given.

why people abandon carts


Why People Abandon Travel Bookings

The results for travel abandonment are based on a survey of 1,000 consumers (more than one answer could be selected).

(For more on airline and travel booking trends, see our Understanding Airline and Travel Trends Report. )

Online Finance Abandonment

A recent survey by Signicat found that 56% of respondents had abandoned an online finance application. This is up from 40% in the same survey two years before.

These are the reasons given by survey respondents:
Cart Abandonment stats finance
One issue was the lack of an online-only option. People clearly want to complete applications online, saving themselves the hassle of making appointments and visiting bank branches.

The factors that relate to online form abandonment most closely are confusing language, asking for too much personal information, and the length of forms.


Browse Abandonment Rates

Browse abandonment refers to shoppers who visit a site, view category pages and products, but leave without adding anything to their shopping carts.

Even though these browsers may not go on to complete a purchase, they are expressing an interest in the products by viewing or searching for them, and may return later to make a purchase.

The stats below show that 43.8% browse product pages on retail sites but don’t go on to add items to their shopping carts or make a purchase on that visit.


Cart Abandonment Emails

Cart abandonment emails are sent to shoppers who abandon, offering a reminder of the items added to the cart and tempting them to return to complete a purchase.

In a study we found the best time to send abandoned cart emails was normally around an hour after purchase, as that has been shown to generate the best results.

cart abandonment email open rates by sector

Email open rates vary a lot by industry, type of email and more. For example, the average ecommerce open rate is often around 15%, but triggered emails like abandonment emails achieve much better results.

cart abandonment conversion rate by sector



Reviewed by Brad Ward
Written by Graham Charlton
— Updated on 29/07/2021

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Graham Charlton

Graham Charlton is Editor in Chief at SaleCycle. He's been covering ecommerce and digital marketing for more than a decade, having previously written reports and articles for Econsultancy. ClickZ, Search Engine Watch and more.