Winning the Online Checkout Wars

There is a greater reliance on e-commerce than ever before. Shoppers that came online during the pandemic are staying but with higher expectations and much more choice. E-commerce sales saw the equivalent of five years of growth last year and with high levels of anxiety about availability of goods, choice, and delivery challenges, the October-December golden quarter period is front-loaded with people already shopping earlier for Christmas. 

There is a huge opportunity to capture this early new custom and retain loyal customers, but businesses need to win at the checkout – the one place where it is far too easy to fall down. 

According to our Future of the Checkout report, where we surveyed 4,500 consumers, 44% of consumers say they will not return to a site if it has a poor checkout experience. The average consumer abandons their online shopping cart six times a week due to a poor checkout – billions of pounds lost.

Here are some simple checkout tips that start-ups should take advantage of: 

Make It Easy 

28% of consumers say their main reason for abandoning a purchase is that it took too long to enter their details. This is such an easy fix to get right with autocomplete address capture. 44% of consumers stay loyal to brands that make it easy to buy their products but over a third of respondents (36%) say that creating an account was their top reason for cart abandonment. Give people the choice – offering guest checkout could easily remedy this issue.

Slow It Down 

When it comes to gifting, higher-end and more expensive online purchases, online customers are looking for a slower and more personalised experience. 78% of consumers say they want a slower purchasing journey to mirror how they would shop when visiting a physical store. They aren’t in a rush but in need of confidence and a better customer experience. With fraud on the increase, new and start-up brands, in particular need to build trust so that the consumer is reassured that their personal and financial details are in safe hands. Consumers don’t want to be rushed to the checkout but when they get there, they don’t want to enter their details twice and expect fast onboarding.

Look to the Future 

31% of consumers say that in the future they want items delivered to wherever they are within minutes, not hours or days. Dynamic delivery is the future and with it comes the challenge and impact of lost and failed deliveries. The answer lies in the data behind the technology – not just location data but increasing use of mobile and other verification data to reduce fraud and ensure deliveries get to the right place and the right person at the right time. Getting your data right early will pay off especially as on-demand and dynamic delivery accelerates.

By Matthew Furneaux, Global Commercial Director, Location Intelligence, GBG