In the context of e-commerce transactions, "abandon" refers to the act of a potential customer leaving a shopping cart or exiting the checkout process without completing the purchase. It is commonly referred to as "cart abandonment" or "checkout abandonment."
Cart abandonment occurs when a shopper adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website before finalizing the transaction. Checkout abandonment specifically refers to the act of leaving during the payment or checkout stage.
Cart abandonment is a significant challenge for e-commerce businesses, as it represents lost sales opportunities. Various reasons can contribute to cart abandonment, including unexpected costs, complicated checkout processes, concerns about payment security, comparison shopping, distractions, or changing mind.
E-commerce businesses employ strategies to minimize cart abandonment, such as optimizing website usability, simplifying the checkout process, offering guest checkout options, displaying clear pricing and shipping information upfront, providing reassurances on security and trustworthiness, implementing remarketing campaigns, and utilizing abandoned cart recovery techniques to encourage customers to complete their purchases.