About 70 out of every 100 online carts never become orders. Baymard Institute, which compiles cart abandonment studies, puts the average at 70.22% across 50 studies (list last updated September 22, 2025). Some of those shoppers were only browsing. But some of the loss comes from friction you can fix: surprise costs, forced accounts, slow or confusing checkouts.
With Black Friday on November 27, a small improvement in your cart or checkout is multiplied by peak traffic. This guide covers what the number means, why shoppers leave and which fixes to make first.
What the average tells you (and what it doesn’t)
The 70.22% figure is an average across studies, industries and devices. Your own rate may be higher or lower, and it often differs between mobile and desktop. Use the average as context, not as a target.
To find your own rate:
Cart abandonment rate = (1 − completed orders ÷ carts created) × 100
For example, if 1,000 carts were created and 300 became orders, your abandonment rate is 70%. (These numbers are an illustration, not a benchmark.)
Record your number now, before you change anything. Without a baseline you will not know which fixes worked.
Why shoppers leave
Baymard’s shopper surveys keep pointing to the same reasons. Here they are in the order of their latest list, most common first; the exact percentages change between survey rounds, so check the latest figures at the source.
- Extra costs that appear late: shipping, taxes and fees
- Delivery that is too slow
- Not trusting the site with card details
- Being forced to create an account
- A long or complicated checkout
- Website errors or crashes
- A return policy that is unclear or unsatisfactory
- Not being able to see the total cost up front
- A declined card
- Not enough payment methods
In practice some abandonment is simply window shopping, and no checkout will recover it. But most items on this list are things you control.
Fixes inside the cart
- Show the full cost early. Display shipping, taxes and the total as soon as you can, before the final checkout step.
- Show progress toward free shipping. A message like “Add €15 more for free shipping” gives shoppers a clear reason to add one more item.
- Keep shoppers in the flow. A separate cart page interrupts browsing. A cart drawer, such as Side Cart, can open the moment something is added to the cart and lets people continue shopping or go to checkout.
- Suggest add-ons that fit the order. Relevant suggestions help; random ones distract. Side Cart can show cross-sell products in the drawer, and Smart Cross Sell shows bundles on product pages.
- Make rewards visible. A message like “Spend €200, save 10%” works better when shoppers can see how close they are. Progressive Discount adds multi-level rewards and cart progress.
Fixes at checkout
- Allow guest checkout. Do not force an account before payment.
- Remove fields you don’t need. Every field is a chance to quit.
- Offer the payment methods your customers expect, and test each one with a small order.
- Build trust. Show a clear return policy, contact details and recognised payment options.
- Show a delivery estimate and write error messages that say what to fix.
- Test on mobile. Walk through checkout on a phone with one hand, as your customers will.
Recovering carts you could not save
Some shoppers will leave anyway. Abandoned-cart emails can bring part of them back, using a dedicated email or marketing tool. Make sure you collect consent in line with the rules that apply to your customers (for example GDPR in the EU). Treat recovery as a second line of defence: fixing the cart and checkout comes first, because it helps every visitor.
What to measure
Track these before and after each change: cart-to-checkout rate, checkout completion rate, average order value, and mobile versus desktop separately. Change one thing at a time where you can, and give each change a few days of traffic before judging it. Stop making big changes about a week before Black Friday so you have a stable store to monitor on the day.
A simple plan before Black Friday
- First week: measure your baseline and fix cart issues (costs, free-shipping progress, add-ons, rewards).
- Second week: fix checkout issues (guest checkout, fields, payment methods, trust, mobile) and place test orders.
- Final week: freeze changes, monitor, and fix only urgent problems.
Make your cart work harder
If your cart still sends shoppers to a separate page, a cart drawer is a quick upgrade. See the live demo of Side Cart, with free-shipping progress, add-ons and rewards.
Source: Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics — average 70.22% across 50 studies, list last updated September 22, 2025.