The success of an eCommerce website greatly depends on how easy it is for customers to go through checkout and purchase an item. Online shopping carts are a feature that “brick and mortar” owners tend to take for granted but which has a huge impact on sales conversion.

It is now common knowledge that more than half of online shopping carts are abandoned before customers check out. The main reasons are usually related to usability issues but lately more price conscious consumers tend to spend more time browsing and price comparing before actually making a purchase.

One recent study from MarketLive states that the rate of shopping cart abandonment has risen in the last year with an overall conversion rate that has stayed stable:
- in Q1 2008 shopping cart abandonment represented 59.43% compared to 57.88% in 2007
- in Q1 2008 sales conversion was 3.96% compared to 3.94% in 2007

A survey from Paypal and Comscore in Spring 2008 explains the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment:
- for 43% the shipping charges were too high
- for 36% the total cost of purchase was more expensive than anticipated
- for 27% customers wanted to price compare before buying
- for 16% customers could not contact customer support
- for 14% customers forgot their username and password on the merchant’s website

The trend of shopping cart abandonment has shifted from consumers being worried about site security when giving out their banking information, to buyers wanting to find the best deals and figuring out the total cost of purchase (including shipping costs and service plans) before making a transaction.

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