Cart abandonment rate in 2026 averages 70.22% globally, representing over $4 trillion in abandoned merchandise annually across e-commerce.
Most e-commerce teams spend the bulk of their budget getting shoppers to the cart. You drive the traffic, build out the product pages, run the ads, and then watch more than two-thirds of those shoppers leave at the final step. Cart abandonment is the most consistent revenue leak in e-commerce, and it hasn't meaningfully improved in a decade.
The cart abandonment rate has stayed near 70% year after year, which means it isn't going to correct itself. So it's worth understanding properly: where your brand stands, why shoppers leave, and what brings them back. In this article, we cover each one.
Cart abandonment rate measures the percentage of shoppers who add items to an online cart but leave without completing the purchase. It's one of the most telling signals in e-commerce, because it reflects how clear your pricing is, how smooth your checkout feels, and how much shoppers trust you to deliver.
The formula is straightforward:
Cart Abandonment Rate = (Abandoned Carts / Carts Created) x 100
An abandoned cart is any cart that was created but didn't result in a purchase, so this is just carts created minus completed orders, expressed as a percentage. To use the metric well, set up your site to tag carts at three funnel stages: add-to-cart, checkout initiated, and payment submitted. This tells you not just how many people abandon, but where they drop off, which is what points you toward a fix.
Then segment. Track the rate by device, traffic source, region, and product category. A single blended number hides the variations worth acting on. The same 70% means very different things across verticals: in fashion it's roughly par, while in grocery it suggests something in your checkout is broken. Your real benchmark is your own vertical, device mix, and market.
Based on Baymard Institute's analysis of 50 studies on e-commerce cart abandonment, the average documented rate in 2026 sits at 70.22%. That's up 0.03 percentage points from 2025 and 2.15 points from 2014. The year-by-year trend below is sourced from SellersCommerce.
| Year | Cart Abandonment Rate |
| 2014 | 68.07% |
| 2015 | 68.53% |
| 2016 | 68.63% |
| 2017 | 69.23% |
| 2018 | 69.89% |
| 2019 | 69.57% |
| 2020 | 69.80% |
| 2021 | 69.82% |
| 2022 | 69.99% |
| 2023 | 70.19% |
| 2024 | 70.19% |
| 2025 | 70.19% |
| 2026 | 70.22% |
Despite a decade of UX advances, faster checkout flows, and smarter payment options, the structural abandonment rate has barely moved. So, the problem isn't going away on its own. It takes deliberate intervention at the brand level.
A significant portion of abandonment is also unavoidable. Baymard Institute research found that 43% of U.S. online shoppers have abandoned a cart simply because they were browsing and not ready to buy. The real opportunity lies in the remaining 57%, the shoppers who had genuine intent but encountered friction that pushed them out.
The global average is a useful baseline, but the sharper read comes from vertical-level data. Abandonment rates vary across industries because consideration windows, price sensitivity, and checkout complexity differ by category. Data are sourced from SellersCommerce 2026 benchmarks.
| Industry | Abandonment Rate | Key Reason for Drop-Off | Avg. Order Value (USD) | Top Recovery Strategy | Est. Revenue Loss (% of Sales) |
| Luxury and Jewelry | 81.68% | High duties, payment trust issues | $350+ | Finance options and reassurance messaging | 15-18% |
| Home and Furniture | 78.65% | High shipping costs, long delivery | $500+ | Transparent shipping, AR previews | 18-22% |
| Fashion, Accessories and Apparel | 76.48% | Size and fit inconsistency | $80 | Instant exchanges, fit guides | 12-15% |
| Beauty and Personal Care | 72.04% | Shade and fit uncertainty | $60 | Try-on tools, free samples, quizzes | 9-12% |
| Multi-Brand Retail | 68.07% | Complex basket, coupon errors | $120 | Simplified checkout, auto-apply coupons | 10-13% |
| Consumer Goods | 65.41% | Price comparison, low urgency | $40 | One-click reorder, bundling | 4-6% |
| Food and Beverage | 58.23% | Delivery slot, freshness concerns | $35 | Subscriptions, same-day delivery | 5-8% |
| Pet Care and Veterinary Services | 53.19% | Missed reorders, timing mismatch | $45 | Autoship programs, reorder reminders | 3-5% |
P.S.: The Avg. Order Value and Est. Revenue Loss (% of Sales) figures in the table above are directional estimates based on industry averages and should not be treated as fixed benchmarks. Actual figures will vary by brand, market, pricing strategy, and traffic mix.
Luxury and jewelry carry the highest abandonment rate at 81.68%. Much of this is baked into the category. High ticket sizes invite long consideration windows. Gifting adds uncertainty, ring sizing raises questions, and large payments raise trust anxiety.
Shoppers here tend to commit only once they've seen rich product media, clear duty and tax totals, familiar payment options, and a return policy generous enough to de-risk the purchase. Home and furniture follow at 78.65%, driven by high shipping costs and long delivery windows.
The issue is usually less the cost or the wait itself than when the shopper finds out. A $200 shipping fee and a six-week lead time are survivable if they're shown on the product page. Sprung at the final step, they end the sale. Showing both upfront is what keeps the shopper in checkout.
Fashion and apparel sit at 76.48%, where sizing inconsistency is the primary driver. A shopper unsure whether something will fit will often leave rather than risk the return process. Size prediction tools, detailed fit notes, and a friction-free exchange policy address this directly.
So does answering the fit question the moment it comes up, which is what pre-purchase support tools like ClickPost Ally are built for. At the other end, pet care and veterinary services record the lowest abandonment rate at 53.19%. Repeat purchases, predictable product specs, and subscription-friendly buying naturally reduce friction. Shoppers in this vertical know what they need and buy it without much deliberation.
Device choice shapes abandonment behavior, and the pattern tracks how people actually use each device across the purchase journey.
| Device | Cart Abandonment Rate |
| Mobile Phones | 80.45% |
| Tablets | 71.75% |
| Desktops | 68.62% |
Device figures: Dynamic Yield XP2 benchmarks, trailing 12 months. Order value figures: Statista.
Mobile phones record the highest abandonment rate at 80.45%, roughly 12 points above desktop. That gap is one of the most consistent findings in checkout research, and it isn't a sign that mobile shoppers are less serious. It reflects the reality that mobile checkout carries more friction than desktop. Small screens, multi-step forms, and the need to re-enter payment details each session all add up.
Desktop abandons the least at 68.62%, and it converts better on higher-value orders. Statista data from December 2023 puts the average desktop order at around $159, against $100 to $105 on mobile and tablet.
The behavior behind that split is familiar: shoppers browse and discover on their phones, then move to a desktop to complete the bigger purchases. Recovery works best when it treats this as one connected cross-device journey, not a series of separate sessions.
Tablets land in the middle at 71.75%. They carry the same handicaps as mobile, a smaller screen and touch input, but tablet sessions tend to be slower and more deliberate than phone sessions squeezed into a commute or a queue, which pulls their completion rate closer to desktop.
Regional context matters enormously for brands operating across multiple markets. Abandonment rates diverge sharply by geography, reflecting differences in payment infrastructure, delivery trust, and consumer confidence. Regional data sourced from SellersCommerce 2026 benchmarks.
| Region | Cart Abandonment Rate |
| Middle East and Africa | 93.00% |
| Asia Pacific | 87.00% |
| Latin America | 87.00% |
| Nordics | 80% |
| North America | 76% |
The Middle East and Africa record the highest regional abandonment rate at 93%. Payment infrastructure is the main driver. When a store doesn't support the local preferred method, shoppers reach checkout and leave; delivery reliability concerns and lower trust in cross-border merchants compound the effect. Brands entering these markets tend to see conversion move only once they've added local payment options, set clear delivery timelines, and built visible trust signals into checkout.
North America sits at the lower end at 76%. Mature payment infrastructure, widespread digital wallet adoption, and higher consumer confidence in online transactions all keep the rate down. The contrast with the Middle East and Africa is less about shopper intent than about the plumbing behind the purchase: where local payment rails and reliable delivery exist, friction falls, and completion rises.
Knowing the rate matters, but understanding the cause is what drives improvement. The data below is sourced from Baymard Institute, excluding the "just browsing" segment, and shows the distribution of actionable abandonment reasons.
| Reason | Share of Shoppers |
| Extra costs too high (shipping, tax, fees) | 39.00% |
| Delivery was too slow | 21.00% |
| Did not trust the site with credit card information | 19.00% |
| The site wanted account creation before checkout | 19% |
| Too long or complicated checkout process | 18% |
| The returns policy was not satisfactory | 15.00% |
| The website had errors or crashed | 15.00% |
| Could not see or calculate the total order cost upfront | 14.00% |
| Not enough payment methods | 10% |
| The credit card was declined | 8.00% |
The number one trigger is extra costs appearing at final checkout, cited by 39% of abandoning shoppers. This one is entirely preventable. Showing shipping costs, taxes, and fees on the product page or early in the cart removes the surprise that drives most price-related abandonment.
Account creation is a barrier for 19% of shoppers, and it costs brands sales at the exact moment they're closest to converting. Guest checkout removes it entirely, with customer details collected after the purchase if needed.
The checkout-length problem is underappreciated. The average U.S. checkout flow contains 23.48 form elements by default, while research shows an ideal checkout can be completed in as few as 12 to 14. Around 18% of shoppers abandon over a long or complicated checkout, yet most brands could cut their form-element count by 20% to 60% through design changes alone.
The scale of lost revenue from cart abandonment is significant enough to reframe how brands should think about conversion optimization. E-commerce stores lose approximately $18 billion in annual sales revenue due to cart abandonment. The projected value of merchandise sitting in abandoned online carts every year exceeds $4 trillion globally.
The more actionable number comes from Baymard Institute's analysis. Focusing only on checkout usability issues that are documented and solvable, the average large e-commerce site can achieve a 35.26% increase in conversion rate through better checkout design alone.
Applied to the combined ecommerce sales of $738 billion across the U.S. and EU, that translates to $260 billion in lost orders that are recoverable through better design, not more ad spend. The average e-commerce site has 39 identifiable areas for checkout improvement. Even brands that have already run post-purchase optimization projects tend to find significant gains remain on the table.
The scale of lost revenue from cart abandonment is significant enough to reframe how brands should think about conversion optimization.
Where shoppers come from shapes how likely they are to complete a purchase. Data sourced from SellersCommerce 2026 benchmarks.
| Traffic Source | Abandonment Rate |
| Social Media | 91% |
| 84% | |
| Direct | 79% |
| Search | 76% |
Traffic source and demographic figures: SellersCommerce.
Social media produces the highest abandonment at 91% because most visitors are in discovery mode, not buying mode. Search traffic converts best at 76%, since that intent is explicitly purchase-oriented.
The 25 to 34 age group abandons most frequently at 21%, followed by 35 to 44 at 20%, though some of that reflects a deliberate habit of parking items to wait for a discount email rather than pure drop-off. Clothing is the top abandoned category at 40%, followed by tech at 18% and homeware at 16%.
These fixes target the pain points that move the number, and all are achievable through design or policy changes without heavy engineering.
Show all costs early. The single biggest driver of abandonment is surprise costs at checkout. Display shipping fees, taxes, and handling charges on the product page. If costs vary by location, update them as soon as the shopper enters their address. A price range shown early is far less damaging than a shock total shown late.
Enable guest checkout. Mandatory account creation is the second most common friction point, cited by 19% of abandoning shoppers. Remove the requirement. Let shoppers buy first and create an account afterward if they choose.
Shorten the checkout flow. The average checkout contains 23.48 form elements. The ideal is 12 to 14. Audit every field and remove anything not essential to completing the transaction. Auto-fill addresses, enable saved payment methods, and compress the journey to three steps wherever possible.
Add payment options. 10% of shoppers abandon when their preferred payment method is unavailable. Digital wallets, BNPL options, and local payment methods reduce this friction, particularly in high-abandonment regions like the Middle East and Africa.
Clarify the returns policy. 15% of shoppers abandon because the returns policy is unsatisfactory. Display the policy prominently near the checkout, and where possible, offer free returns. Shoppers who feel protected are more likely to complete uncertain purchases. A well-designed returns management process also lowers the perceived risk of buying in the first place.
Recover with email. Abandoned cart emails recover roughly 10% of lost revenue when executed well, and the mechanics matter: around 45% of these emails are opened and about 21% of those are clicked, both well above standard marketing benchmarks because the shopper already knows what's in the cart. Send the first email quickly, include live cart contents, show the preferred payment method, and add urgency through inventory or price-drop alerts where relevant.
Address mobile checkout friction. With mobile abandonment at 80.45%, the mobile checkout is where the largest single block of lost revenue sits. Reduce form fields, enable one-tap payment, and design for thumb-friendly navigation.
Account for the cross-device journey by saving carts across sessions, so a shopper who starts on a phone can finish on a desktop without starting over. How your post-purchase platform handles order confirmations and tracking on mobile matters too, since a smooth experience after checkout builds the confidence that drives the next purchase.
This article draws on the most recently published benchmarks available across cart abandonment studies, industry vertical data, device and regional breakdowns, and order value research.
Individual brand results will differ based on product category, checkout design, traffic mix, and market. Use these benchmarks as directional targets and validate against your own analytics before prioritizing specific interventions.
Cart abandonment rate is the percentage of shoppers who add items to an online cart but leave without completing the purchase. It is calculated using this formula: Cart Abandonment Rate = (Abandoned Carts / Carts Created) x 100. To get the most actionable read, track it separately by device, traffic source, region, and product category rather than relying on a single blended number.
The global average cart abandonment rate in 2026 is 70.22%, based on Baymard Institute's analysis of 50 studies. A rate below 70% is generally considered above average, while anything below 60% is considered strong performance. Rates vary significantly by industry: pet care and consumer goods sit around 53% to 65%, while luxury and jewelry can exceed 81%. Benchmark against your own vertical, not the global average.
Cart abandonment captures shoppers who add items but never begin checkout. Checkout abandonment captures shoppers who start the checkout process but do not complete it. Both matter, but checkout abandonment is typically more costly because it represents higher-intent shoppers who encountered a specific friction point, such as a surprise shipping fee, a mandatory account creation step, or a long form, right at the point of purchase.
The reasons are split into two groups. The first is unavoidable: Baymard Institute research found that 43% of U.S. shoppers abandon simply because they were browsing and not ready to buy.
The second group is actionable. Among shoppers with genuine purchase intent, the top reasons are extra costs appearing at final checkout (39%), slow delivery (21%), lack of trust with credit card information (19%), mandatory account creation (19%), and a long or complicated checkout process (18%).
The highest-impact fixes are showing all costs, including shipping, taxes, and fees, early in the journey rather than at final checkout; enabling guest checkout; shortening the checkout flow to three steps or fewer; adding digital wallet and BNPL payment options; and sending abandoned cart emails quickly. Together, these address the top five reasons shoppers with genuine intent abandon their carts. Investing in a strong post-purchase experience also builds the trust that reduces hesitation on future visits.
Extra costs at final checkout are the leading cause, cited by 39% of shoppers. This is followed by slow delivery at 21%, lack of trust with credit card information at 19%, mandatory account creation at 19%, and a long or complicated checkout process at 18%. Most of these are fixable through design and policy changes rather than engineering work.
Mobile phones record the highest abandonment rate at 80.45%, compared to 68.62% on desktop and 71.75% on tablets. The gap reflects checkout friction rather than lower intent. Mobile screens, multi-step forms, and the need to re-enter payment details create barriers that desktop avoids. Desktop also converts higher-value purchases more effectively, with an average order value of approximately $159 compared to $100 to $105 on mobile and tablet. Brands can close the gap by enabling one-tap payments, reducing form fields, and ensuring order tracking is easily accessible on mobile after purchase.
Cart abandonment rate should be tracked alongside checkout abandonment rate, add-to-cart rate, conversion rate by device, average order value, and traffic source conversion rates. Monitoring these together reveals where in the funnel shoppers are dropping off and which segments are driving the most recoverable revenue. Regional and demographic breakdowns add further precision for brands operating across multiple markets. E-commerce return rates are also worth monitoring in parallel, since high returns can signal product-expectation mismatches that contribute to future abandonment.
Abandoned cart emails recover approximately 10% of lost revenue when executed well. The data shows that 45% of these emails are opened and 21% of those are clicked through, both well above standard marketing benchmarks. The key variables are speed, relevance, and urgency. Send the first email quickly, include the exact cart contents, show the shopper's preferred payment method, and add inventory warnings or price-drop alerts to create a reason to act immediately.
Payment options, trust signals, and security directly address three of the top ten abandonment reasons. Not enough payment methods causes 10% of shoppers to abandon, lack of trust with credit card information affects 19%, and website errors or crashes account for 15%. Offering digital wallets, BNPL, and local payment methods reduces payment friction.
Prominent security badges and clear SSL indicators reduce trust anxiety. A stable, fast checkout flow eliminates the technical failures that cost brands sales at the final step. Brands that also invest in e-commerce fraud prevention can display those protections at checkout to further reassure hesitant shoppers.