The holiday season, particularly Black Friday, offers eCommerce stores a significant opportunity to drive online sales. In 2023 alone, Black Friday sales in the U.S. surpassed $13 Billion, with approximately 131 million people planning to shop on that day. However, the threat of shopping cart abandonment looms large, with global Black Friday cart abandonment rates ranging between 73% and 78% on Black Friday.

In this guide, we’ll dive into what online cart abandonment is, why customers abandon their virtual shopping carts, and actionable tips to help you reduce shopping cart abandonment during Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season.

Black Friday Cart Abandonment Trends

Shopping cart abandonment occurs when a shopper adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the eCommerce store before completing the purchase. While this is a year-round challenge for online retailers, it becomes especially critical during high-traffic events like Black Friday sales.

Despite the heightened urgency on this day, the global shopping cart abandonment rate on Black Friday in 2022 was still 77.74%—only slightly lower than the average cart abandonment rate of 80%.

This graph above showcases how abandoned carts fluctuate before, during, and after Black Friday. While the Black Friday cart abandonment rate sees a slight dip, the rate remains high, indicating a substantial opportunity to capture more potential customers by reducing cart abandonment.

Cart Abandonment Trends Over Time

Shopping cart abandonment rates have steadily climbed in recent years. After peaking at 71.98% in 2013, the rate fluctuated slightly but rose again steadily from 2014 onward. By 2023, shopping cart abandonment rates reached 70.1%, marking the first time in a decade that abandonment levels have been this high.

The steady rise in shopping cart abandonment statistics highlights the importance of continuously optimizing your eCommerce website to reduce lost revenue and improve completed purchases.

Why Online Shoppers Abandon Carts

Understanding why shoppers abandon carts during Black Friday helps you implement solutions to prevent it from negatively impacting your online store. According to Baymard research, shipping costs are the most common reason for cart abandonment, followed by complicated checkout processes and long delivery times:

Top Reasons For Cart Abandonment (2024)

48% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts due to high shipping costs.
26% of users leave because they were asked to create an account.
25% of customers leave as they didn’t trust the site with their credit card details.
23% abandon their carts because the order takes too long to ship.
22% give up because the checkout process was too long or complicated.
21% don’t proceed when they can’t see total orders costs upfront.
18% leave if they aren't satisfied with the returns policy.
17% of users experienced website issues.
13% don’t continue if they aren’t provided with alternative payment methods.
9% of shoppers leave if their credit card is declined.

The #1 Reason For Cart Abandonment during Peak Season

With online shopping skyrocketing during the holiday season, so does cart abandonment—currently averaging a staggering 81% on mobile. According to Sleeknote, 63% of abandoned carts are due to unexpected costs. Minimizing this top barrier is essential to capturing more sales. By maintaining transparency on fees, offering a simplified checkout process, and providing convenient shipping options, eCommerce stores can reduce cart abandonment, improve conversions, and make the most of holiday traffic.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Conversion Rates

Conversion rates during Black Friday and Cyber Monday highlight the importance of optimizing the checkout process. As seen in the graph below, Cyber Monday in 2023 recorded the highest conversion rate, with 6.9% on desktop and 3.5% on mobile devices. Black Friday followed closely with 6.5% on desktop and 3.2% on mobile.

These numbers show the significance of focusing on both desktop and mobile experiences. Mobile site speed is especially important for mobile users as a slow experience could lead to abandonment of online shopping carts.

5 Ways to Decrease Your Black Friday Cart Abandonment Rate

By understanding the common reasons behind online cart abandonment, you can take targeted action to reduce shopping cart abandonment. Here are five effective strategies:

1. Be Transparent About Extra Costs

Up to 63% of shoppers abandon their online shopping carts when shipping costs, taxes, or other surcharges are too high. To avoid this, ensure all additional costs are visible throughout the shopping experience, especially on product pages and the checkout page. Easyship’s Taxes and Duties Calculator helps you provide upfront cost transparency, enabling customers to see accurate tax and duty estimates based on their shipping destination. Transparency helps customers feel in control of their purchase decisions and reduces lost revenue.

2. Optimize Your Delivery Information

Delivery times matter, with 36% of shoppers abandoning their carts because the order takes too long to ship. To meet these expectations, use Easyship’s Multi-Carrier Comparison Tool to show the best delivery options and times from over 550 carriers, including express shipping solutions. Clearly displaying estimated delivery times on product pages and during the checkout flow can help manage expectations and prevent cart abandonment.

‍3. Display Live Shipping Rates at Checkout

Avoiding surprise fees at checkout is essential to reduce cart abandonment, with unexpected costs being one of the top reasons for abandoned purchases. Easyship’s Live Shipping Rates at Checkout feature offers real-time, transparent pricing from a range of carriers, helping you display accurate shipping costs at checkout. By integrating these rates, you ensure customers are fully aware of shipping fees, including options for faster or cost-effective delivery, which boosts conversion rates and creates a seamless checkout experience.

4. Simplify the Checkout Process

A complicated or lengthy checkout process often frustrates online shoppers, leading them to abandon their carts. 30% of users abandon their online shopping carts because they’re asked to re-enter their details. To reduce abandoned shopping carts, streamline your checkout flow by offering guest checkout, minimizing form fields, and ensuring payment security. Ensure that customers have access to desirable payment options, including digital wallets like Apple Pay.

5. Use Cart Abandonment Emails

A simple reminder can be highly effective in recovering lost sales. Cart abandonment recovery emails have a 39.07% open rate and a 23.33% click-through rate. Sending two or three abandonment emails with personalized messaging and limited-time discounts can encourage cart abandoners to return and complete their purchases. Consider showcasing the average order value in the email to highlight savings on shipping costs.

How Easyship Can Help

Easyship provides powerful tools for eCommerce sites to reduce cart abandonment issues, especially during high-traffic events like Black Friday:

1. Real-Time Shipping Rates

Easyship integrates real-time shipping rates directly into your checkout page, giving website visitors clear and accurate pricing, which can combat online cart abandonment.

2. Automated Shipping Rules

Automate shipping options based on average order value, product weight, or customer location to streamline the checkout process. This ensures shoppers see the most relevant options, improving the average checkout flow.

3. Pre-Negotiated Shipping Rates

With Easyship, online retailers can offer customers discounted shipping rates, with savings of up to 91% off retail rates. Reducing unexpected shipping costs can reduce shopping cart abandonment rates caused by price sensitivity.

4. Multiple Carrier Options

Offering a variety of shipping carriers is key to combat cart abandonment. Easyship connects with over 250 global carriers, allowing online retailers to provide preferred payment methods and delivery options to their customers.

5. Branded Tracking and Returns

Offering branded tracking and returns portals helps build trust and encourages repeat purchases. This smooth post-purchase experience, combined with the ideal checkout flow, increases sales revenue while minimizing abandoned shopping carts.

Summary

Reducing shopping cart abandonment is essential for maximizing sales revenue during Black Friday. By being transparent about costs, simplifying the checkout process, and offering live shipping rates, eCommerce stores can encourage more completed purchases.

Partnering with Easyship can further streamline your checkout process, offering pre-negotiated shipping rates, live carrier options, and branded post-purchase experiences that improve customer satisfaction. As cart abandonment stats continue to rise, addressing these challenges will help you recover lost revenue and boost your holiday season sales.

FAQs

What is the average cart abandonment rate?

The average shopping cart abandonment rate across the eCommerce industry typically hovers around 70% to 80%. During key shopping events like Black Friday, this figure can still remain high, though slightly lower, at around 77%.

Factors like extra costs, shipping delays, and a complicated checkout process contribute to high abandonment rates. As eCommerce continues to grow, optimizing the checkout flow and reducing friction for online shoppers are key to lowering this rate and recovering lost sales.

How much should an abandoned cart discount be?

Offering a 10% to 20% discount is effective at encouraging customers to complete their purchases.

Some online retailers offer a tiered discount system based on the average order value, while others may use time-sensitive discounts in their cart abandonment recovery emails. The goal is to balance offering an incentive without heavily cutting into your sales revenue.

What is the open rate for abandoned cart emails?

The open rate for abandoned cart emails is impressively high, averaging around 39.07%,above the standard email marketing open rate of 21.33%. Additionally, the click-through rate for these emails is around 23.33%. Multi-email campaigns tend to perform even better, with more opportunities to remind potential customers about their items.

How do you track cart abandonment rate?

The cart abandonment rate is typically calculated by dividing the total number of abandoned carts by the total number of initiated checkouts and multiplying by 100.

Many Shopify merchants and eCommerce sites use built-in analytics tools or plug-ins to track this rate. Monitoring the cart abandonment rate can help you improve your customer experience by identifying pain points like slow website speeds, unexpected shipping costs, or a complicated checkout process.

What pricing strategy is used on Black Friday?

Many retailers and eCommerce stores use a deep discount pricing strategy to attract holiday shoppers. Offering exclusive deals, flash sales, and early access to the best Black Friday deals can help drive impulse purchases.

Some retailers also use tiered discounts, offering greater savings for higher cart values. Additionally, offering fast and free shipping and limited-time offers like early Black Friday deals are common tactics to encourage holiday gifts shopping and boost Black Friday sales.

Does Black Friday affect online shopping?

Yes, Black Friday has a massive impact on online shopping, making it one of the biggest shopping events of the year. It drives a huge surge in traffic to both brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers, especially with the rise of deals online and the growing popularity of Cyber Monday deals.

For eCommerce stores, the Black Friday shopping season is crucial for increasing sales revenue, as many consumers shop for holiday gifts and take advantage of deep discounts across various product categories.

How do you attract customers on Black Friday?

To attract customers offer compelling reasons to shop, such as exclusive deals, flash sales, and early access to the best Black Friday deals. Promoting fast and free shipping, offering early Black Friday deals, and sending targeted marketing messages can help you stand out among the many competing retailers.

Creating urgency with Black Friday ads, showcasing limited-time offers, and leveraging cross-sell opportunities can encourage impulse purchases. Highlighting price history to demonstrate that customers are getting the lowest price on high-demand items like gaming consoles, tech gadgets, or Apple devices (e.g., Macbook Air) can also motivate holiday shoppers to complete purchases.

How to increase sales on Black Friday?

Implementing a Black Friday sale with early bird access and exclusive deals on top items like the Nectar memory foam mattress, Xbox Series X, or Google Assistant can drive traffic to your store. Offering fast and free shipping, improving site speed, and optimizing the checkout process for both desktop and mobile users are also key strategies.

Leveraging Black Friday ads and promoting holiday gifts with cross-sell opportunities can encourage higher average order value. Incorporating bonus incentives, such as bonus points or time-limited discounts, can also help convert more sales, especially when targeting holiday shoppers looking for exclusive Black Friday deals.

How to Avoid Cart Abandonment This Black Friday: Ultimate Guide