the state of ecommerce cart abandonment in...

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The State of eCommerce Cart Abandonment in 2016

1©2016 Spot Studio

Table of Content

Introduction2

Persistent Carts4

Abandoned Cart Emails (ACEs)5

Exit Intent Technology

Final Words

10

17

Remarketing

Calculations

14

18

In Summary16

In the UK alone, projections suggested that online sales were set to reach $93.89B by the end of 2015. Whilst it’s nearly impossible to calculate the exact cost to the industry of cart abandonment, the figures we’re discussing are so large that even a 1% reclamation rate would equate to a $938 million increase in revenue for the UK market. To look at it from another perspective, a collation of 31 different studies suggested that the average cart abandonment rate is 68.53%. As such, multiplying your average revenue by 3.125 will give you an understanding of just how much money is abandoned in your carts.

Or, if you’d rather, the table below will give you an understanding of the values of abandoned carts:

2©2016 Spot Studio

Introduction

Monthly Sales

Monthly Abandoned Cart Value

Yearly Abandoned Cart Value

20,000 62,500 750,000

50,000

100,000

200,000

500,000

1,000,000

2,000,000

5,000,000

10,000,000

20,000,000

156,250

312,500

625,000

1,562,500

3,125,000

6,250,000

15,625,000

31,250,000

62,500,000

1,875,000

3,750,000

7,500,000

18,750,000

37,500,000

75,000,000

187,500,000

375,000,000

750,000,000

2) https://www.internetretailer.com/2015/07/29/global-e-commerce-set-grow-25-2015

Figures for the total value of the eCommerce industry vary widely from source to source, though the general consensus is that 2015 saw eCommerce sales totalling around $1.7 trillion. According to Emarketer, this accounts for 7.3% of the total retail sales of $22.822 trillion. This is a trend set to grow and grow as predictions show a doubling in the market value to $3.551 trillion by 2019.

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1) http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Retail-Sales-Worldwide-Will-Top-22-Trillion-This-Year/1011765 and http://www.statista.com/statistics/261245/b2c-e-commerce-sales-worldwide/

3) http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate

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3©2016 Spot Studio

An abandoned cart occurs when a user places something in their digital shopping cart, but leaves the website without going through with the purchase.

Introduction

What Are Abandoned Carts?

According to a recent study, the top 8 reasons for cart abandonment are:

Why Are Carts Abandoned?

Shipping costsHigh purchase costsShopping cart used for research rather than purchaseLack of discount codes

Lack of payment optionsLack of credibilityEstimated shipping timeComplicated checkout process

Taking place in Q4 2015, this study looks what the industry is doing to deal with abandoned carts. In order to do this we firstly investigated what tactics top 60 online retailers (by website traffic) in the UK were employing. We also focused on the top 50 online clothing retailers as they are notoriously on the cutting edge.

Our Investigation

Persistent cartsAbandoned cart emails

Exit intent technologyOffsite remarketing

This is in order to discover who is doing what, explore how many companies are missing out, and the potential revenue they are losing.

4) This is data taken from the SimilarWeb website traffic tool (http://www.similarweb.com/)

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4©2016 Spot Studio

Persistent Carts

Stored as cookies on the user’s browser, persistent carts save the goods the consumer has placed in their basket, so that when they revisit the website their purchase is already waiting for them.

7) https://blog.kissmetrics.com/convert-abandoned-visitors/

Looking at the top 60 online retailers, 93.75% employ persistent carts, with 96.72% of the top 50 clothing retailers, 89% of the top 200 SMEs and 90% of the top 50 SMEs employing the same technology, making it practically an industry standard. Those who are not using cookies to help their customers are far behind the game.

Cookies are now opt-in, which may explain why some online retailers are not using this technique (avoiding obfuscation of the sales funnel). Really, there is no excuse, especially when you consider that 56% of visitors intend to save their carts for later, with 28% taking more than a day to complete their order, 21% taking 3 days and 18% taking a week or more.

In fact, one study on the average length of the buyer’s journey showed that UK consumers take an average of 6.69 days to decide to buy consumer electronics and health and beauty products.

When compared to the statistics that 32.6% of eCommerce businesses store their cookies for mere hours, and only 31.7% store them for a couple of days, there are a great deal of sales falling through the cracks.

6) http://internetretailing.net/2015/11/indecisive-shoppers-and-cashback-savvy-brits-among-unexpected-mobile-buying-habits-across-europe/

5) http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Retailers-Rethink-Shopping-Cart-Abandonment/1009645

93.75%

TOP 60Online Retailers

96.72%

TOP 50Clothing Retailers

90%

TOP 50SMEs

89%

TOP 200SMEs

ImplementationRate

ImplementationRate

ImplementationRate

ImplementationRate

Segment Segment

Segment Segment

5

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5©2016 Spot Studio

Persistent Carts

A table showing some of the companies employing the technology.

Brand Category Sub Category

Website Impleme-nted

missguided.co.uk Shopping Clothing Yes

clothingattesco.com Shopping Clothing Yes

matalan.co.uk

mandmdirect.com

everything5pounds.com

zalando.co.uk

urbanoutfitters.com

schuh.co.uk

boden.co.uk

topman.com

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

adidas.co.uk

clarks.co.uk

office.co.uk

marketplace.asos.com

dorothyperkins.com

gooutdoors.co.uk

forever21.com

shopstyle.co.uk

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

missguided.co.uk

clothingattesco.com

matalan.co.uk

mandmdirect.com


zalando.co.uk

urbanoutfitters.com

schuh.co.uk

boden.co.uk

topman.com

adidas.co.uk

clarks.co.uk

office.co.uk


dorothyperkins.com

gooutdoors.co.uk

forever21.com

shopstyle.co.uk

6©2016 Spot Studio

Abandoned Cart Emails (ACE)

Our study found that of the top 60 UK retailers including Argos, Next and Asos, only a surprising 22.95% actually sent an abandoned cart email (ACE), whilst 26% of the top online clothing stores did.

The SMEs were out in the lead with the 29.5% of the top 200 and 34% of the top 50 sending follow up emails.

This is considerable given that recent investigations into the efficacy of ACEs discovered that 44.1% of these emails are opened, with an average click-through-rate (CTR) of 11.61%, and a 29.9% leads to sales rate. What’s more impressive is that the average order value (AOV) increased by 14.2%, with each ACE sequence delivering an average of £5.20.

Given that ACEs can be automated down to user behaviour and purchasing patterns at very little cost, the lack of implementation is costing online retailers a great deal in not only revenue, but profit.

8) https://econsultancy.com/blog/64167-basket-abandonment-emails-why-you-should-be-sending-them/

Taken to be a reminder of the fact that the customer has left a cart without purchase, this technique requires the user to be logged into an account, which should be top of the agenda for any eCommerce company.

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7©2016 Spot Studio


Assuming that we have 40% of the users’ details, the following table outlines the cost of the lack of implementation:

Monthly Sales / Abandoned Cart Recovery = x% lost of revenue.

Monthly Sales

Abandoned Cart Value

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Yearly Loss If Not Implemented

% of Revenue

£20,000.00 £62,500.00 £347.50 £4,170.00 1.74%

£50,000.00 £156,250.00 £868.75 £10,425.00 1.74%

£100,000.00

£500,000.00

£2,000,000.00

£312,500.00

£1,562,500.00

£6,250,000.00

£1,737.50

£8,687.50

£34,750.00

£20,850.00

£104,250.00

£417,000.00

1.74%

1.74%

1.74%

£200,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£5,000,000.00

£625,000.00

£3,125,000.00

£15,625,000.00

£3,475.00

£17,375.00

£86,875.00

£41,700.00

£208,500.00

£1,042,500.00

1.74%

1.74%

1.74%

Average Order Value

£36.62

OpenRate

CTR CTR to Sale

Lead to Sale

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate per Any UserAssuming we have contact details for 40% of users

44.10% 11.61% 29.90% 3.47% 1.39% 0.56%

8©2016 Spot Studio


The following tables outline a few of the companies which have and have not implemented abandoned cart emails:

Category Sub Category Website

Shopping General Merchandise argos.co.uk No

Do They Send Abandoned Cart Emails?(Not during test period)

Shopping Clothing next.co.uk No

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Clothing

General Merchandise

Home and Garden

Consumer Electronics

General Merchandise

Classifieds

Home and Garden

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Sports

asos.com

marksandspencer.com

debenhams.com

diy.com

sportsdirect.com

currys.co.uk

very.co.uk

houseoffraser.co.uk

preloved.co.uk

homebase.co.uk

zara.com

littlewoods.com

topshop.com

riverisland.com

nike.com

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

General Merchandise

Furniture

Clothing

Office Products

Home and Garden

Clothing

Clothing

Sports



Sports

johnlewis.com

ikea.com

etsy.com

newlook.com

office.com

boots.com

screwfix.com

boohoo.com

hm.com

kelkoo.co.uk

jdsports.co.uk

pcworld.co.uk

carphonewarehouse.com

halfords.com

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

9©2016 Spot Studio


Top 50 Clothing

Category Sub Category Website

Shopping Clothing missguided.co.uk No

Do They Send Abandoned Cart Emails?(Not during test period)

Shopping Clothing clothingattesco.com No

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

matalan.co.uk

mandmdirect.com


zalando.co.uk

urbanoutfitters.com

schuh.co.uk

boden.co.uk

topman.com

simplybe.co.uk

prettylittlething.com

net-a-porter.com

monsoon.co.uk

farfetch.com

mrporter.com

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Shopping

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

adidas.co.uk

clarks.co.uk

office.co.uk


dorothyperkins.com

gooutdoors.co.uk

forever21.com

shopstyle.co.uk

footasylum.com

surfdome.com

size.co.uk

gap.co.uk

jacamo.co.uk

uniqlo.com

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

10©2016 Spot Studio


9) http://www.voucherbox.co.uk/are-uk-shoppers-getting-savvier

Exit intent technology detects when a visitor is about to abandon the website by monitoring mouse movement and velocity. Using predictive algorithms, it registers the intent of the user and triggers a pop-up over the web page in order to prompt them to go through with a purchase.

In this study we were examining whether online retailers used this technology to save an abandoned cart.

To our surprise very few of the companies we investigated were using the technology to this end, with only 1.64% of the top 60 shopping companies and 2% of the top 50 online clothing retailers implementing it.

Rather, a great deal of companies were offering discount vouchers as an incentive to ensure that they could make the sale. With an average discount of between 15%-20%, this is loss of pure profit.

Our investigation has shown that the use of discount codes is growing exponentially and irreparably damaging the eCommerce landscape. A recent study of consumers showed that the ubiquity of discount codes has seen the amount of people who frequently seek out discount codes grow to 33% of the online market.

The amount of consumers who ‘only ever’ bought using a discount code has also risen by 70% to 17% of all consumers - ‘regular’ users of discounts now amount to 16% of UK online shoppers. This is information gleaned from a voucher website, so the statistics will undoubtedly be skewed; however the year upon year growth certainly demonstrates a trend in this direction.

Discount Codes

9



In order to understand the alternative, we recently implemented exit intent technology on an eCommerce website in order to recover abandoned carts rather than to force the sale. Exit intent technology offers the user a chance to save their cart to email. Over the course of a 3 month period, the sign up rate was 9.43%. In return we saw 68% of the emails opened and a CTR of 22.05%. This is under the CTR of the standard abandoned cart email, though we postulate this is due to the fact that users weren’t as committed to the purchase at this stage.

With a CTR to sale rate of 10.2%, this equates to a total conversion rate of 1.53% of those who sign up, without any loss of profit due to discount codes.

Abandoned Cart Recovery Through Exit Intent

Furthermore, this technique allows for the client to engage in their abandoned cart email sequences (the most successful reclamation technique) with a low level entry point; simply submitting an email address rather than entering all the criteria of the traditional signup form. This also gives the retailer the scope to remarket towards these consumers.

As a result of this technique, retailers can expect to expand their mailing list by 94 users for every 1000 baskets abandoned.

9.43%SIGN UP

10.2%SALES

1.53%CONVERSIONTO SALES



Table demonstrating the loss to business if not implemented.

Monthly Sales




% of Revenue

£20,000.00 £62,500.00 £90.17 £1,082.09 0.45%

£50,000.00 £156,250.00 £225.44 £2,705.23 0.45%

£100,000.00

£500,000.00

£2,000,000.00

£312,500.00

£1,562,500.00

£6,250,000.00

£450.87

£2,254.36

£9,017.44

£5,410.46

£27,052.31

£108,209.25

0.45%

0.45%

0.45%

£200,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£5,000,000.00

£625,000.00

£3,125,000.00

£15,625,000.00

£901.74

£4,508.72

£22,543.59

£10,820.93

£54,104.63

£270,523.13

0.45%

0.45%

0.45%

Average Order Value

£36.62

Sign UpRate

OpenRate

CTR CTR to Sale

Lead toSale

Conversion Rate

9.43% 68.00% 22.05% 10.20% 1.53% 0.14%



As a recent article entitled, “The trick to bagging cash off your online shopping? Abandon your virtual shopping basket to unlock secret discounts” shows, consumers are extremely savvy when it comes to finding discounts and exploiting them. One commentator in particular, points out:

“Please don't tell everybody! I was clever enough to work this out. If everybody starts doing it, they [eCommerce websites] will stop doing it.”

Whilst another stated:

“[I] Do find it annoying as shops should just reward regular customers rather than having to play these games.”

The Cost of Discount Codes

11) Taking the average discount voucher to be 15%, the total value of the UK market to be £52.25 billion, and the ‘only discount purchasers’ to constitute 17% of the market.

10) http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-3300175/Abandon-virtual-shopping-basket-unlock-secret-discount-codes.html

With those consumers who solely use discount codes creating a direct loss of gross profit to the UK market in the area of £1.33 billion, providing vouchers isn’t a long term, sustainable business model and will ultimately eat into profits more and more.

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10


Remarketing

By installing tracking pixels on a website, remarketing gives retail companies the option to re-target those who have already visited their website elsewhere on the internet. With retargeted customers three times more likely to click on an advert than those who haven’t seen the company before, the CTR is considerably higher than through standard PPC advertising.

We looked at Google and Facebook (FBX) remarketing in our sample study:

Segment Do They Remarket Via Google?

Do They Remarket Via Facebook?

Top 60 Shopping 78.69% 9.84%

Top 50 Clothing

Top 50 SMEs

200 SMEs

78.00%

54.00%

47.50%

24.00%

12.00%

8.50%

Once again we found that the top clothing retailers are pushing the envelope with 78% using Google remarketing and 24% of these companies using Facebook to stick in their customers’ minds.

78.69% of the top UK retailers are using Google and only 54% of the top SMEs. Interestingly the 12% of top SMEs are employing Facebook compared to only 9.84% of the top 60 shopping channels.


Remarketing

The Google Display Network gives remarketers access to around 10% of the internet , along with the ability to target what they call "shopping basket abandoners".

Case studies have shown that remarketing through Google can produce some very positive results, with a reduction in cost per acquisition (CPA) of between 25% -67% ) and an increase in Adwords revenue by 30%.

Separately, FBX offers retailers access to the largest audience on the planet with:

What Are They Missing out On?

13) https://www.youtube.com/embed/hKMKpDbdBus

12) http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Retailers-Rethink-Shopping-Cart-Abandonment/1009645

14) https://docs.google.com/a/google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fads%2Fdisplaynetwork%2Fpdfs%2FGDN_Case_Study_Babson.pdf& embedded=true

15) https://docs.google.com/a/google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fads%2Fdisplaynetwork%2Fpdfs%2FGDN_Case_Study_FLOR.pdf& embedded=true

936 million daily active users on average for March 2015798 million mobile daily active users on average for March 2015

1.44 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 20151.25 billion mobile monthly active users as of March 31, 2015

Of course, all of these people cannot be accessed through remarketing, though the scope is there with the creation of custom and lookalike audiences.

Case studies from AdRoll have shown that using Facebook remarketing has produced a quarter over quarter increase in CTR, conversion rate and ROI of 130%, 170% and 110% respectively.

16) http://cyberinnovation.com/retargeting/facebook-retargeting/facebook-retargeting-increases-advertising-conversions/

17) https://www.adroll.com/en-GB/sites/default/files/resources/pdf/case-study/AdRoll%20Case%20Study%20-%20OnePiece.pdf

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In Summary

As we can see from the graph above, there’s a distinct disparity between each sector and the extent to which companies are employing abandoned cart techniques. If we’re to take the top 50 clothing companies as the industry benchmark, there are many companies falling behind.

On average the top 50 eCommerce clothing companies are employing more techniques than the others, with the top 60 online retailers a close second. It is worth noting that there is some degree of crossover between these two groups.

The top 200 SMEs are performing the worst overall, though a greater amount of these companies are implementing ACEs compared to the top 50 retailers.

Google remarketing is employed to a far greater degree by the top eCommerce companies (78.69% & 78% compared to 54% & 47.5%). We can assume this is due to a larger budget for remarketing, which will price the SMEs out of the market, although to what extent we cannot say. We also have to presume that some of these companies are simply not using remarketing.

Facebook remarketing is clearly seen as the least favoured technique by the majority of companies, though once more we see that twice the amount of clothing companies are employing this technique compared to the second place (top 50 SMEs).

Understandably, the sale conversion rate of Facebook adverts is considerably lower than through Google. This is due to the fact that clients are at a different stage of the buying cycle. The fact that the other groups are distinctly behind the top clothing companies does, however, suggest that many companies are missing out, especially considering the cheap cost of using FBX.

Persistent Carts

100.00%

Top 60 Shopping Top 50 Clothing Top 50 SMEs 200 SMEs

75.00%

50.00%

25.00%

0.00%

9.84%24.00% 12.00%

8.50%

22.95%26.00%

34.00%29.50%

78.69% 78.00%

54.00%

47.50%

98.36% 98.00%

90.00% 89.00%

Do They Send Abondoned Cart Emails? Do They Remarket Via Google? Do They Remarket Via Facebook?


In Summary

With a great deal being spent on remarketing (which can be expensive), and many discounts offered, inexpensive ACE sequences are being overlooked. It seems as though companies and marketing departments are focusing on quick wins, rather than on gaining real customer loyalty and repeat business without additional costs.

As our own investigations into user journeys have shown, the average consumer takes around a working week to complete an order from initial search to final purchase. This is an extremely vital period for retailers to secure the purchase through reaching out and influencing their customer. By relying heavily upon Google remarketing, companies will be cutting into profits and missing out on other channels through which they can influence their customers’ decision.

Final Words

Rather than focusing on the short term, a more considered approach needs to be taken to abandoned carts and digital marketing. Online retailers need to examine the effects of exploiting immediate gains and focus instead on creating lasting customer loyalty through quality service rather than undercutting their competitors. A continued trend of discount culture and increased remarketing budgets will see even the biggest companies eventually struggling to turn a profit.


Calculations

Abandoned Cart Emails, Based on 40%

Average Order Value

£36.62

OpenRate

CTR CTR to Sale

Lead to Sale

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate per Any UserAssuming we have contact details for 40% of users

44.10% 11.61% 29.90% 3.47% 1.39% 0.56%

Monthly Sales




% of Revenue

£20,000.00 £62,500.00 £347.50 £4,170.00 1.74%

£50,000.00 £156,250.00 £868.75 £10,425.00 1.74%

£100,000.00

£500,000.00

£2,000,000.00

£312,500.00

£1,562,500.00

£6,250,000.00

£1,737.50

£8,687.50

£34,750.00

£20,850.00

£104,250.00

£417,000.00

1.74%

1.74%

1.74%

£200,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£5,000,000.00

£625,000.00

£3,125,000.00

£15,625,000.00

£3,475.00

£17,375.00

£86,875.00

£41,700.00

£208,500.00

£1,042,500.00

1.74%

1.74%

1.74%


Calculations

Exit Intent Based on 9.43% Sign Up Rate

Average Order Value

£36.62

Sign UpRate

OpenRate

CTR CTR to Sale

Lead toSale

Conversion Rate

9.43% 68.00% 22.05% 10.20% 1.53% 0.14%

Monthly Sales




% of Revenue

£20,000.00 £62,500.00 £90.17 £1,082.09 0.45%

£50,000.00 £156,250.00 £225.44 £2,705.23 0.45%

£100,000.00

£500,000.00

£2,000,000.00

£312,500.00

£1,562,500.00

£6,250,000.00

£450.87

£2,254.36

£9,017.44

£5,410.46

£27,052.31

£108,209.25

0.45%

0.45%

0.45%

£200,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£5,000,000.00

£625,000.00

£3,125,000.00

£15,625,000.00

£901.74

£4,508.72

£22,543.59

£10,820.93

£54,104.63

£270,523.13

0.45%

0.45%

0.45%


Calculations

Monthly Sales




% of Revenue

£20,000.00 £62,500.00 £435.00 £5,220.00 2.18%

£50,000.00 £156,250.00 £1,087.50 £13,050.00 2.18%

£100,000.00

£500,000.00

£2,000,000.00

£312,500.00

£1,562,500.00

£6,250,000.00

£2,175.00

£10,875.00

£43,500.00

£26,100.00

£130,500.00

£522,000.00

2.18%

2.18%

2.18%

£200,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£5,000,000.00

£625,000.00

£3,125,000.00

£15,625,000.00

£4,350.00

£21,750.00

£108,750.00

£52,200.00

£261,000.00

£1,305,000.00

2.18%

2.18%

2.18%

ACE + Exit Intent

Average Order Value Conversion Rate

£36.62 0.70%


Calculations

Segment / Task

Persistent Carts

Do They Send Abandoned Cart Emails?

Do They Ask for Details Before You Leave the Website?

Do They Remarket Via Google?

Do They Remarket Via Facebook?

Top 60 Shopping

Top 50 Clothing

Top 60 SMEs

200SMEs

98.36%

98.00%

90.00%

89.00%

22.95% 78.69%

26.00% 78.00%

34.00% 54.00%

29.50% 47.50%

1.64% 9.84%

2.00% 24.00%

0.00% 12.00%

0.50% 8.50%

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the state of ecommerce cart abandonment in...

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