SINGAPORE (July 2): For most online shoppers in Singapore, moving items into online carts does not mean that the purchase is in the bag.
More than 56% of online shoppers would sometimes or all the time discard their carts, according to the SAP Consumer Propensity Study.
About 57% of respondents say that this is because they were only using their carts to compare prices of similar products, while 53% say it is because they balk at overall shipping costs which turn out to be higher than expected, and 44% would abandon their carts as their promotion codes have expired.
The study also found that 61% of Singaporeans would delay completing their purchases, allowing their items to sit in the cart for durations from an hour to more than a week.
Globally, consumers in Asia Pacific (APAC) have the highest tendency to abandon their e-carts, with 52% saying they would do so sometimes or all the time, ahead of North America (46%) and Europe (43%).
Higher-value items have higher chances of cart abandonment, such as fashion (74%), furniture (66%) and digital goods (63%).
However, 69% of shoppers say that discounts would drive them to make the purchase.
Singaporean consumers have said that they wish for more brands to augment the online experience.
Most of the shoppers (67%) said that they would enjoy an easy way to exchange their products, such as via nearby lockers. More than half (57%) of respondents would like to see comparison tools to compare prices and specifications of products within the same website.
A physical store (47%) would also attract more customers, giving them an outlet to test or try the products before buying them online.
S. Pranatharthi Haran, Vice President, Southeast Asia, SAP Customer Experience says, “Once they (retailers) know why shoppers are abandoning carts, there are many options for retailers to remove the friction and encourage follow-through on the purchase.”
“For example, retailers can give shoppers visibility of shipping and tax prices sooner, provide assistance via a pop-up chat window if the shopper seems stuck on a process, use retargeting to get consumers to visit again, send reminders if they left something in the cart, or follow up by providing a special promotional code.”
