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The Use of the Shopping Cart: The Problem of Abandonment in e-Commerce

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Abstract

One of the biggest changes brought about by the Internet and technological advances has been the creation of e-commerce, which has expanded the strategic options for millions of entrepreneurs, erased borders and even led to the emergence of purely digital businesses. Convenience and savings in time and money have led more and more consumers to opt for this method of shopping. However, as in traditional commerce, entrepreneurs have to deal with specific problems, such as cart abandonment. Cart abandonment without completing the checkout process has emerged as the main reason for lost revenue and can account for up to 70% of initiated transactions. For this reason, this research aims to know the state of the art on this subject, carrying out a systematic review of the literature to identify the main reasons for cart abandonment in e-commerce, as well as the possible gaps that may exist.

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Chapter
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Chapter
Several recent studies in the field of digital marketing (Kukar-Kinney and Close, 2010; Oliver and Shor, 2003) highlight the significance of cart abandonment: 25% of online purchases are abandoned before the payment. One cause identified by Oliver and Shor (2003, 2006) is the act of prompting for a promotional code during the buying process. This interpretation is confirmed by a recent study, the “8th Annual Merchant Survey” conducted by an e-tailing group (www.emarketer.com, April 2009), where more than 60% of U.S. online retailers face a dropout rate in excess of 20% of all carts. A study commissioned by Paypal and Comscore (www.paypal-media.com, May 2009), found that one of the major reasons for shopping-cart abandonment is promotional codes (cited by 27% of the respondents). Mullins (2000) studied the impact of prompting for a promotional code on customers who did not have a code and observed an effect on cart abandonment. Oliver and Shor (2003, 2006) explain this reaction as a consequence of the perceived unfairness resulting from the assumption that other customers are paying a lower price.
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Online retailing is thriving as consumers become more comfortable shopping online (Cho 2004). In the USA alone, online retailing total revenue topped 280billionbytheendof2013(Sehgal2014),anincreaseofgreaterthan20Accordingtoindustryreports,continuedgrowthintheecommerceindustrywillresultlargelyfromexistingwebshoppersspendingincreasedtimeandmoneyonline(Forrester2013).Withthisinmind,firmsmustconsidermarketingstrategiesaimedatincreasingpurchasesofexistingonlineshoppersasopposedtoafocusaimedonlyatacquiringnewcustomers.Apromisingavenuetobetterunderstandthebehaviorofcurrentonlineshoppersinvolvesaddressinganissueofconsiderableimportanceintodaysonlineretailingenvironment(CloseandKukarKinney2010)understandingwhyconsumerstakethetimetomakepurchasedecisions(browsingforandplacingitemsintoanonlineshoppingcart)onlytoabandonthatshoppingcartwithoutmakingapurchase.Astheimportanceandrelevanceofecommercecontinuestogrow,itisimperativethatscholarsgainadeeperunderstandingofnonbuyerbehavior(KukarKinneyandClose2010,p.250),animportantbutunderstudiedsegmentofonlineconsumerbehavior(Closeetal.2012).Formallydefined,onlineshoppingcartabandonmentoccurswhenaconsumerplacesanitemoritemsintotheironlineshoppingcartandthenleavestheretailwebsitewithoutpurchasingtheitem(s)duringthatonlineshoppingsession(KukarKinneyandClose2010,p.240).Thisepidemiciscostingonlineretailers280 billion by the end of 2013 (Sehgal 2014), an increase of greater than 20 % from just 2 years ago. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been identified as an increasingly important component of marketing strategy and customer relations (Close and Kukar-Kinney 2010). Consequently, marketing scholars have acknowledged the need for new models and theories which contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of online consumer behavior (Kukar-Kinney and Close 2010). According to industry reports, continued growth in the e-commerce industry will result largely from existing web shoppers spending increased time and money online (Forrester 2013). With this in mind, firms must consider marketing strategies aimed at increasing purchases of existing online shoppers as opposed to a focus aimed only at acquiring new customers. A promising avenue to better understand the behavior of current online shoppers involves addressing an issue of considerable importance in today’s online retailing environment (Close and Kukar-Kinney 2010)—understanding why consumers take the time to make purchase decisions (browsing for and placing items into an online shopping cart) only to abandon that shopping cart without making a purchase. As the importance and relevance of e-commerce continues to grow, it is imperative that scholars gain a deeper understanding of “non-buyer behavior” (Kukar-Kinney and Close 2010, p. 250), an important but understudied segment of online consumer behavior (Close et al. 2012). Formally defined, online shopping cart abandonment occurs when a consumer places an item or items into their online shopping cart and then leaves the retail website without purchasing the item(s) during that online shopping session (Kukar-Kinney and Close 2010, p. 240). This “epidemic” is costing online retailers 18 billion of revenue a year in the USA alone (Kramer 2011). While the ability to effectively recapture abandoned carts would clearly boost revenues, it is imperative to note that, in the eyes of the consumers, these virtual shopping carts have multiple uses that are not always tied to procurement (Kukar-Kinney and Close 2010). Additionally, the varying effects of risk and benefit perceptions on consumers’ likelihood to abort online transactions shown in previous research (Cho 2004) suggest relevance in examining this issue through a regulatory focus framework (Higgins 1998). Regulatory focus theory suggests that individuals assign different importance to the same decision based on their promotion-focused (i.e., individuals are concerned with maximizing gains) or prevention-focused (i.e., individuals attempt to minimize losses) regulatory orientation. With billions of dollars at stake (Close et al. 2012), this opportunity presents a compelling case for research that expands the knowledge of regulatory focus theory in the online retailing environment. Based upon these pressing calls to research and the limited online shopping cart abandonment research, this study addresses two main questions: (1) How does consumer shopping motivation (specifically hedonic shopping motivation and utilitarian shopping motivation) influence consumer online shopping cart abandonment? and (2) How does regulatory focus theory apply within this context? That is, how do promotion and prevention framed messages aid in the recapture of abandoned shopping carts? Specifically, this research proposes that a retailer is more likely to recapture sales through initiated contact with the customer when the strategic focus of their message fits the regulatory focus of the customer’s end-goal.
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ABSRACT. Despite the surge in online retail sales in recent years there still remains reluctance by consumers to complete the online shopping process. A number of authors have attributed consumers’ reluctance to purchase online to apparent barriers. However, such barriers as yet have not been fully examined within a theoretical context. This research explores the application of the perceived risk theoretical framework. Specifically, performance risk and the influence of perceived performance risk has on the phenomenon of Internet Abandoned Cart Syndrome (ACS) is evaluated. To explore this phenomenon, a number of extrinsic cues are identified as playing a major role in the performance evaluation process of online purchases. The results of this study suggest the extrinsic cues of brand, reputation, design and price have an overall impact on the performance evaluation process just prior to an online purchase. Varying these cues either positively or negatively had a strong impact on performance evaluation. Further, it was found that positive or negative reputation was heavily associated with shopping cart abandonment.
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This study was designed to understand which factors influence consumer hesitation or delay in online product purchases. The study examined four groups of variables (i.e., consumer characteristics, contextual factors perceived uncertainty factors, and medium/channel innovation factors) that predict three types of online shopping hesitation (i.e., overall hesitation, shopping cart abandonment, and hesitation at the final payment stage). We found that different sets of delay factors are related to different aspects of online shopping hesitation. The study concludes with suggestion for various delay-reduction devices to help consumers close their online decision hesitation.
Abandonment of the shopping cart: a study of online consumer’s non shopping behaviour
  • P R Chowdhury
  • R Chouhan
  • PR Chowdhury
Chowdhury, P.R., Chouhan, R.: Abandonment of the shopping cart: a study of online consumer's non shopping behaviour. Turk. J. Physiother. Rehabil 32, 363-367 (2021)