Cart management: How to encourage your customer to complete their order?

On average, 69% of online shoppers abandon their transaction at check-out. Revenues could be higher if e-tailers could capitalize on sales lost through incomplete transactions.

Find out how you can reduce your cart abandonment rate and convert potential customers, by applying some tips on your website and manage your delivery and return services in a smart way.

Introduction 

On average, 69% of online shoppers abandon their transaction at checkout.3 If we look at mobile online sales, which make up around 33% of all e-commerce sales, this number remains the same.4 If this abandonment happened as often
in bricks and mortar stores, everyone would be scrambling to find a solution.


 Estimates suggest that abandoned online purchases are in the realm of 3.5 billion euro in lost sales. However, around 63% of that amount may be recuperated through competing sites or through the retailer themselves. 

Omnichannel retailers are clearly at an advantage here, since they have more channels through which to recuperate the lost sales.

Transparent costings: an absolute must 
Unexpected costs can also present a hurdle in cross-border e-commerce. Consider the taxes, levies, import duty and insurance costs. For the online consumer, it is important to have a clear overview of the total purchase price from the start of the process. An integrated, real-time application that can calculate the complete cost based on all factors involved is a great solution. 

The main reason online shoppers abandon their transactions during the checkout process turns out to be unexpected costs. These are expenses

that are revealed in the checkout process but not shown previously in the shopping visit. A global survey by WorldPay of 19,000 online consumers shows that a whopping 56% of people did not complete their orders for this reason.6
Unexpected costs can also present a hurdle in cross-border e-commerce. Consider the taxes, levies, import duty and insurance costs. For the online consumer, it is important to have a clear overview of the total purchase price from the start of the process. 

An integrated, real-time application that can calculate the complete cost based on all factors involved is a great solution. 

Free shipping and returns as a marketing tool 
In the third quarter of 2014, 68% of American e-tailers were offering free shipping. Large online retailers such as Amazon have increased customer expectations enormously with respect to free deliveries.

E-tailers that would still prefer to charge shipping costs should be sure to make this known at the start of the ordering process.10 Good, clear communication ensures that customers won’t abandon their full shopping carts. 

Making payment simple and secure 
A simple and secure payment process is extremely important

Two thirds of online consumers say that they would not order from sites unless they carried security logos from a familiar organization such as McAfee Secure or PayPal Verified.

The preferred payment options vary from country to country. For example: Germans and Finns like to pay by invoice, the Chinese make use of AliPay instead of PayPal, and a significant number of Argentinians, Indians, Japanese and Russians opt to pay cash on delivery. 

A recent study by PayPal suggests that nine out of 10 online shoppers would like more protection on their purchased items.15 A transparent shipping process is just one of the steps retailers can take to win over the trust of online consumers. 

A focus on delivery options and times 
In Europe, home delivery is the most popular option, as is mostly the case in Argentina, South Korea and Turkey.17 “Click and collect” is another option growing in favor among consumers. In the

U.K., the number of online consumers that opt
to collect their orders from a retail outlet will increase from the current 26% to 35% by 2018.
In France and Germany, more and more online shoppers want their products delivered to a secure home delivery box.18 Other delivery options are also gaining in popularity, such as automated parcel collection lockers and collection points in parking lots

Online consumers also want to know when they can expect the delivery. Recent research shows that 30% of online shoppers in the U.S. abandon their shopping cart because it’s not shown when the products will be delivered.

Improving efficiency in the supply chain 
The total product price is very important for online consumers. It is even among the five top reasons online shoppers leave a website without buying anything: the consumer will often find a better price elsewhere online or will simply give up if the price is too high.

Thanks to their large-scale operations, logistics service providers can offer better prices
for cross-border shipping. Postal networks
are the obvious choice for local distribution.
Their historical foundation means they have a well-developed, extremely dense distribution network.22 When you combine postal networks with strong, international logistics networks  you get the best of both worlds: a cost-efficient, dense-distribution solution. 

Maintain end-to-end control of the user experience 
Digital technologies — such as geolocation and data analytics — make it possible to collect a great deal of information about online consumers without having to ask. These technologies allow retailers to personalize the shopping experience. If local information is shown to the online shopper,

the chance of a sale increases by a factor of six or seven.

By retaining ownership of their payment page, as opposed to using third-party services for international sales, e-tailers remain free to continually optimize their services. This way, they have access to and can thoroughly analyze important data relating to the checkout process. 

It’s already been mentioned several times before: the online consumer wants a fluid, integrated ordering process. If any of the steps in the process go awry, the chance of lost sales increases significantly. 

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