What is Shopping Cart Abandonment (Common Causes & Solutions for Online Business in Nigeria)

One of the most exciting phases of shopping for every customer is getting the stuff they wish to purchase into their cart. The beautiful feeling of "ah, I'm finally getting these!". 

The feeling is the same both in the physical and online stores. But the procedures for both are different. 

However, a significant challenge online business owners in Nigeria face is shopping cart abandonment. 

Research shows that the percentage of abandoned carts varies across industries, ranging from 60% to 81%.

According to the Baymard Institute, 69.57% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This data shows that at least 7 out of ten customers will abandon their shopping carts and not go through with their purchase. 

Baymard also shows that shopping cart abandonment rates differ with devices with a Mobile rating of 85.65%, Tablets of 80.74%, and Desktop 69.75%. 

With this in mind, it is essential as an online store owner to create a good shopping cart experience for your customers by eliminating any problems before they arise. 

In this article, we'll be looking at what shopping carts in e-commerce are and the significant problems associated with shopping carts, shopping cart abandonment, and how to fix them. 

What Are Shopping Carts In E-Commerce?

Shopping carts in e-commerce are software that enables customers to buy items from your store or accumulate items they intend to purchase later.  

It keeps a record of the products your customers buy. It acts as an online store catalog allowing customers to select, review and purchase whatever products they pick. 

There are two types of shopping carts 

1. Hosted/ Self-hosted shopping cart
2. Licensed shopping cart

Hosted Shopping Cart: 

A third party usually provides the hosted shopping cart. A service provider hosts it, and payment is usually made monthly or yearly. It is straightforward to set up and modify to suit your needs, as the host already provides templates.  Examples of hosted shopping carts are: 

1. SiteGround
2. WooCommerce
3. Nexcess.net
4. Volution
5. Cloudways

Licensed Shopping Cart: 

The licensed shopping cart can be downloaded from a vendor and installed on your computer. Some of these carts are free, while others require a one-time fee. The licensed shopping cart usually comes with premium support and upgrades. Examples of licensed shopping carts are: 

1. LemonStand
2. OpenCart

Note: When you set up your online store with Tradift, you don't have to purchase a third-party cart service. Tradift's e-commerce website has all features that support seamless selling and shopping experience.

What is an abandoned cart in eCommerce? 

Shopping cart abandonment occurs when customers accumulate products in their cart but do not purchase them. This challenge is one of the problems online store owners face. 

Why do people abandon their carts? 

Customers abandon their Shopping cart for many reasons, some of which may include the following: 

1. Inadequate payment methods
2. Website error, especially during checkout
3. Complicated checkout processes
4. Declined credit cards
5. Lack of mobile-friendly user interface
6. Disappointing delivery and returns policy
7. High extra costs (tax and shipping fees)
8. Another primary reason you may experience shopping cart abandonment is when customers only browse through your store or do research.

Causes and Solution to Cart  Abandonment on an Online Store in Nigeria?

To fix shopping cart abandonment in your online store, you must first discover the cause because each cause requires a different solution.  Here are some ways to fix each problem specifically: 

Long or complicated checkout processes 

Solution: 

It is impossible to reduce the checkout process, so in this case, you could make the process more visually appealing and easy to give the customer a lighter feel going through the process. 

You could also take out whatever step you think is unnecessary to make it less complicated. 

High extra costs (tax and shipping fees) 

Solution: 

One way to eliminate shopping cart abandonment, in this case, is to display the costs of each product up front. This way, customers can compare their budget before adding it to their cart. 

You can also offer free shipping on some products. This way, they'll be excited enough to get other products and go on with the purchase. 

Lack of mobile-friendly payment options 

Solution: 

Make provision for mobile-friendly payment options in your store. 

Many customers do not like stressful payment processes and will abandon their carts at the slightest inconvenience. So you want to take note of this and prevent it. 

How to Deal with Cart  Abandonment on an Online Store in Nigeria?

There are also some steps you can take to fix shopping cart abandonment generally 

Email remarketing: 

You can send your customers who have gotten to the purchase stage and abandoned their carts emails to remind them of their products and why they should go on with the purchase. For example, when you create your eCommerce website with Tradift, you also get access to an automated feature to fix cart abandonment with email marketing. When a customer fails to complete a purchase, Tradift will send a reminder email to their email. All you have to do is set it up on the settings page on the Admin dashboard.

SMS remarketing: 

SMS remarketing is an alternative to email remarketing. It can be a better option as it has better immediacy than email marketing. 

Chatbot or Live chat services: 

Customers may abandon their shopping cart because they may have questions and need an instant response, but they don't get the answer they need. Creating a chatbot or live chat service allows them to ask whatever questions they may have while shopping. 

It also gives a feeling of security to the customers. 

Trust Badges and Social proofs: 

No one wants to invest money into what they aren't sure of authenticity. 

Purchasing products from a brand you do not know, especially in cases of massive purchases, can be terrifying.  One way to give your customers assurance and win their trust is to create social proof to make them more confident in making purchases with you. 

Display your trust badge and certificates prominently so they can be more comfortable shopping from your store. With all of these in place, your online store is bound to have more purchases on your online store. 

Why You Should Use Tradift to build an e-commerce Website

A good e-commerce builder like Tradift can also help you eliminate the shopping cart abandonment problem. Its features allow you to incorporate mobile-friendly payment options, an easy checkout process, and fast delivery. It also provides a straightforward user interface giving customers a great shopping experience. 

Sign up on Tradift for a 14-day free trial at no cost. You can upgrade to the paid version and experience exclusive features on the platform for as low as 2000 naira using the Tradift lite plan. 

Visit www.tradift.com to sign up now.