Online Shopping Cart Abandonment
SmallBusinessNewz had a story last week entitled Shopping Cart Abandonment - Seller's Fault or Consumer Behavior? It cites a Forrester Research report that said: "Despite improvements in site design and increased consumer comfort with online purchasing, 88% of Web buyers say that they have abandoned an online shopping cart without completing a transaction. This is the same percentage as five years ago, suggesting that retailers have yet to address the primary drivers of cart abandonment: frustration with the amount of shipping costs, unpreparedness to make a purchase, and a desire to comparison-shop for a lower price." Personally, I never abandon a purchase unless: 1) I feel I've been a victim of "bait and switch", i.e., the price or item isn't really what I thought it was 2) the vendor makes it too difficult to complete the transaction. Sometimes, I'm supposed to log in, and cannot as Guest. And the site asks me a bunch of things that I don't