Shopping Cart Abandonment – Online and Off

I’m constantly reading about the phenomenon of shopping cart abandonment in online shopping.

It is a very big problem. One that is addressed, analyzed, discussed and analyzed some more.

How do we get apparently interested shoppers, who came to our site, searched for products, added them to a shopping cart and then proceeded to leave without product “in hand” to follow through to purchase?

Shoppers tend to get lost along the way online, apparently. They have a sudden change of heart, they don’t trust the credit card system on the site, they’re frustrated by a slow loading page, an unsightly graphic, or perhaps the phone just rang.

Online retailers, and the support and analysis industries that serve them, try to come up with different answers and strategies to save the sale.

One that I like, is the ability to save my shopping cart. That is “visit” the store, choose my desired merchandise and then, think about it a little more, without having to start all over again. Kind of like bricks and mortar shopping, when you’re able to put things on hold for a day or two (do stores still let you do that these days?).

Anyhow, it turns out shopping cart abandonment is not the exclusive domain of the net.

“ “Canadian consumers are abandoning their shopping carts, delaying purchases and leaving stores, public transit stops and restaurants in significant numbers,” marketing research firm, Maritz Research Canada, said in releasing the results of an online poll of more than 1,300 adult Canadians.

“A whopping 86 per cent of participants polled admitted to walking out of a store frustrated with having waited too long for service,” said Maritz, which advises companies on how to improve their performance.”

Many of these disgruntled shoppers leave mid-purchase.  That is, somewhere along the checkout process. (You can read the full story on The Globe and Mail).

So, while one form of retail is certainly not looking to emulate the lackings of the other, it is reassuring to know that abandonment happens everywhere.

And when a shopper abandons, for example a supermarket shopping cart online, at least the ice cream doesn’t melt from being discarded in the aisle.

The Exact Science of Merchandising

Okay, well obviously there’s no EXACT science to merchandising, but what science really is precise?

As any retailer knows, merchandising is a never-ending, fine-tuning affair that can make all the difference in your bottom-line.

A recent NRF posting gave some great advice, that rang true.

Basically it can be summarized as such:

hindsight + recent trends + strategy and planning + timely (re)actions = merchandising success

The key is being aware of all these elements at once, and once you’ve got a handle on the “situation”, continue to persevere.

Yesterday’s treasure is so often today’s trash. People’s wants (and perceived wants) change quickly, and since people are your consumer base….

You are not a mind-reader, so you may not be able to accurately predict every detail of demand, no matter how much you plan. But if people don’t quite purchase as you’d predicted, don’t be proud, be flexible. Make changes to your promotions, and if possible actual inventory, on a regular, per need basis.

If you are not equipped to handle all this activity on your own, or simply don’t want to, there is help out there. I’ve always been an advocate of paying for services others can do better.

Bring Me More Traffic

A message we’ve long since repeated is this: shoppers cannot buy what they cannot find.

Site search & navigation is the way to locate products once shoppers have already arrived on your website.

The problem, as all online retailers know, is getting people to your site in the first place: shoppers cannot buy from stores they cannot find.

An interesting article I came upon in Internet Retailing had this to say about online retailers and the quest for more traffic:

“While they understand how to manage and bid on pay-per-click keywords, they fall behind informational and other non-retail sites when it comes to natural search results.”

The article goes on to say:

“Appearing in natural search results is key to a web site’s success. Several studies have shown that consumers’ eyes jump over paid results and go direct to natural. For instance, on Google, one study showed consumers preferring natural results 3 to 1.”

In addition, besides the issue of reliability, SEO, SEM, and PPC costs keep rising. That doesn’t mean you should abandon them, but other avenues need to be explored.

In other words, while in all likelihood it is worthwhile to continue investing in these efforts, it is also advisable to build your natural search rankings.

Additional relevant content, including topical articles are a good addition to any site. The more pages, the more content (particularly dynamic), the more Google spiders will crawl your site. You will also want to increase the number of links to your site and individual products.

eTail East

I just got back from eTail East in Washington DC, which was hosted at the Washington Hilton hotel. I was just about to add a link to their website, when I noticed it is already built for the 2009 exhibit - including basic details! We could all learn something from that level of preparedness.

This foresight and awareness of detail paid off in many ways. In particular, I have to say, the eTail personnel were very involved and helpful, ensuring that all who attended got the most of the experience. A special thanks goes to Michelle and Seth for their extraordinary attention and assistance.

In terms of our participation, a highlight for me was when Lynette Montgomery from pictureframes.com shared her experiences working with Celebros’ advanced site search & navigation solution, during the Search Day round tables on Monday August 4th. The increase in search traffic, click through rate, conversion rate, and average order size amazed all who were in attendance.