2/3 of online shoppers come back to their abandoned carts to buy

A study by Internet security firm McAfee shows that online shopping habits are not so different from offline, and reinforces the importance of having a strong brand.

McAfee found that 65% of shoppers who’ve abandoned their shopping carts come back – commonly after a day or two – to finally buy.

This is like the High Street shopping experience where you will look at something, think about it and return…except that on the High Street the decision making time is generally measured in hours as otherwise you will have to make a special trip back into town / the mall.

McAfee says that the reasons for delay include brand recognition (the better the brand recognition, the shorter the decision making time), and the simple need to shop around. Price obviously also plays a factor with shoppers delaying more for expensive items.

It’s an interesting piece of research that I think shows up the increased sophistication of Internet shoppers: Why buy immediately, it’s not like when you’re in a real world shop and need to make an immediate take it or leave it decision? Instead you can see what else is out there before you finally click to pay.

To reach its conclusions, McAfee analysed 150 million online transactions for the study.

Source – Marketing Charts