Why Shoppers Abandon Their Cart: Where Online Stores Lose Sales
The customer found the right product.
They checked the images, read the specifications, compared the price and clicked Add to cart.
For an online store, this is one of the most valuable visitors. They are no longer just browsing. Purchase intent already exists.
And yet the order never appears.
The customer opens the cart, starts checkout and leaves.
It is easy to assume they changed their mind, found a cheaper offer elsewhere or never intended to buy in the first place.
Sometimes that is true.
But very often, the store loses the sale on its own.
The reason may be unexpected delivery costs, forced account creation, a confusing form, a missing payment option or a checkout that simply does not work well on mobile.
That is why increasing sales is not only about attracting more visitors.
Sometimes the first priority is to stop losing customers who are already ready to buy.
Cart abandonment and checkout abandonment are not the same thing
It is useful to separate two different situations.
In the first, the customer adds a product to the cart and leaves. They may simply be saving the item, comparing offers or planning to return later.
In the second, the customer starts checkout, enters personal details, selects delivery or chooses a payment method — and then stops.
The second case is much more valuable for diagnosis.
The further a customer moves through the funnel, the stronger their purchase intent usually is.
If many shoppers leave at the same stage, the problem may not be advertising or product assortment at all.
It may be the checkout itself.
That is why overall store conversion is not enough.
A useful funnel looks more like this:
product page → cart → checkout started → delivery selected → payment selected → order confirmed → payment completed
Once these steps are tracked separately, it becomes much easier to see where sales disappear.
Mistake 1. Delivery costs appear too late
One of the most frustrating checkout experiences looks like this.
The product costs €79.
The customer is happy with the price, adds it to the cart, enters their name, address and contact details — and only then discovers an additional €14.90 delivery charge.
Technically, the store has done nothing wrong.
But from the customer’s perspective, the total price has changed at the last moment.
Delivery conditions should therefore be visible as early as possible.
It is not always necessary to calculate an exact shipping fee directly on every product page, especially if the amount depends on destination.
But customers should understand the basic rules:
whether free delivery is available;
from what order value it applies;
which delivery methods are available;
what influences the cost;
and roughly when the order can arrive.
The later a significant additional charge appears, the higher the risk of abandonment.
Mistake 2. Customers are forced to create an account
The customer wants to buy a product.
The store wants a registered user.
Those goals are not always the same.
Mandatory registration adds another task to checkout:
create a password;
meet password requirements;
confirm an email address;
sometimes activate the account.
For returning customers, an account can be useful.
It can store addresses, order history, loyalty rewards and repeat purchases.
But the first order should not feel like an application process.
Guest checkout reduces friction.
An account can be offered after purchase, or created automatically from checkout data where this is legally and technically appropriate.
The main purpose of checkout is to complete the purchase, not to increase the number of registered accounts.
Mistake 3. The store asks for too much information
First name.
Last name.
Company.
Date of birth.
Phone number.
Email.
Country.
Region.
City.
Postcode.
Street.
House number.
Apartment.
Every field should answer one simple question:
Why is this information required to fulfil this order?
If the customer is collecting from a pickup point, a complete residential address may not be necessary.
If a company name is irrelevant for a B2C order, it should not be mandatory.
If a phone number is only required for one delivery provider, the form should reflect that logic.
Long forms are especially painful on mobile.
Ten fields may feel slightly annoying on desktop.
On a small screen, they can be enough to kill the purchase.
Mistake 4. The website is mobile-friendly, but checkout is not
Responsive design does not automatically mean good mobile checkout.
A page may technically fit the screen while still being difficult to use.
Common problems include:
the main button sits far below the visible area;
the keyboard covers the active field;
phone fields open a standard text keyboard;
dropdowns are difficult to use with a thumb;
a pickup-point map does not fit properly;
modal windows are hard to close;
an AJAX update jumps the page to the top;
error messages appear outside the visible area.
Checkout should be tested on real smartphones, not only in browser emulation.
And it should be tested with different delivery and payment combinations.
This is where many problems become visible.
Mistake 5. Delivery choice is too complicated
Delivery is one of the most technically complex parts of checkout.
European stores may offer combinations of:
home delivery;
parcel lockers;
pickup points;
local couriers;
postal services;
express delivery;
cross-border shipping.
Customers do not care how complicated the integrations are behind the scenes.
They usually want answers to three questions:
Where will it arrive?
When will it arrive?
How much will it cost?
If the checkout shows five carrier names with no clear delivery date or explanation, the store is forcing the customer to understand its logistics system.
A better interface compares options in plain language.
For example:
Pickup point — €3.90 — arrives Tuesday
Home delivery — €6.90 — arrives Monday or Tuesday
Once a pickup option is selected, the customer should get a usable map or searchable list.
Delivery should not become a separate puzzle inside checkout.
Mistake 6. The preferred payment method is missing
The customer reaches the final stage and discovers that the payment method they normally use is not available.
This can be enough to lose the order.
The opposite extreme is also common: stores add every possible payment method simply because they can.
That is not always helpful either.
The right payment mix depends on:
the target country;
average order value;
device usage;
customer segment;
B2B or B2C model.
A store selling in Germany may need a different payment mix from one focused on the Netherlands, France or Italy.
Cards alone may not be enough.
Depending on the market, customers may expect options such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, iDEAL, Klarna or local bank-based methods.
The important point is not to offer everything.
It is to offer the methods customers actually expect.
Mistake 7. Error messages do not explain what went wrong
“Something went wrong.”
“Invalid value.”
“Unable to continue.”
For a developer, these messages describe system state.
For a customer, they are a dead end.
A useful error message should answer at least two questions:
What happened?
How can I fix it?
For example:
“Enter your phone number in international format.”
The message should also appear next to the relevant field, not somewhere at the top of a long page.
Even worse is when previously entered data disappears after an error.
Very few customers want to re-enter their address and payment details because one field failed validation.
Mistake 8. Nothing happens after the button is clicked
The customer clicks Place order.
Nothing changes.
The button still looks active.
One second passes.
They click again.
Then again.
This can lead to duplicate requests, duplicate orders or simply a closed browser tab.
Any action that takes time needs visible feedback.
The button can be temporarily disabled.
A loading state can appear.
The interface should clearly show that the order is being processed.
This is especially important when checkout communicates with external systems such as:
payment gateways;
delivery APIs;
tax services;
address validation;
pickup-point services.
The customer should never have to guess whether the store is working.
Mistake 9. Checkout does not look trustworthy
Customers become much more sensitive to small details at the payment stage.
A typo.
A broken icon.
A misaligned layout.
A browser warning.
A redirect to an unfamiliar domain.
At this point, the customer is about to transfer money.
The checkout should feel like a natural continuation of the store, not an abandoned technical page.
There is no need to fill it with dozens of security badges.
More convincing signals are basic:
clean layout;
HTTPS;
clear merchant identity;
accessible contact information;
transparent delivery and returns information;
familiar payment interfaces;
no obvious technical errors.
Trust is usually created by a store that simply looks and behaves professionally.
Mistake 10. The promo-code field sends customers away
A promo-code field looks harmless.
But it can create an unintended thought:
“If there is a promo-code field, there must be a discount code somewhere.”
Some customers then leave the checkout and search Google, social media or coupon sites.
They do not always come back.
If promo codes are not a central part of the sales model, the field can be made less prominent.
For example:
Have a promo code?
The main visual action should remain completing the order.
Mistake 11. The customer cannot clearly review the final order
Before paying, people want to verify the decision.
A good order summary should show:
products;
quantities;
discounts;
delivery;
taxes where relevant;
final total;
delivery address or pickup point;
selected payment method.
If these details are scattered across several steps, uncertainty increases.
Customers may wonder whether the right address was selected or whether the discount was applied.
The final amount should never change without explanation.
If delivery, tax or another charge changes the total, the reason should be clear.
Mistake 12. The store does not know where customers leave
This is often the most expensive mistake.
A business can spend months changing banners, rewriting product pages and increasing ad spend without noticing that half of potential orders disappear after the delivery step.
A checkout funnel needs to be measured.
At minimum, track:
product viewed;
product added to cart;
cart opened;
checkout started;
delivery selected;
payment selected;
order completed.
Then the real problem becomes easier to identify.
For example:
If few users add products to cart, investigate the product page, price and offer.
If they open the cart but do not start checkout, review the cart experience and total cost.
If they start checkout but leave after delivery, investigate that stage.
If they reach payment but do not complete the order, review the payment flow.
Without this data, checkout optimisation becomes guesswork.
One-page checkout or multiple steps?
There is no universal answer.
A one-page checkout may look shorter, but if the same page contains:
customer details;
billing;
shipping;
pickup-point map;
multiple delivery options;
payment;
promo codes;
comments;
order summary;
it can become overwhelming.
A multi-step checkout separates information, but a poor implementation can create too many clicks and hide important details.
The number of pages is not the most important metric.
The number of decisions and the amount of effort matter more.
The customer should always understand:
where they are;
what is required now;
what remains;
what the final price is;
whether they can change an earlier choice without losing data.
Three well-designed steps can be easier than one overloaded page.
Delivery and payment must be tested together
In a real online store, checkout does not exist in isolation.
It interacts with:
delivery modules;
payment providers;
customer addresses;
cart rules;
stock;
taxes;
discounts.
For example, a customer selects a parcel locker.
The store must save the selected location, its identifier, address, price and delivery conditions.
Then the customer chooses payment.
After the order is created, the data may need to be sent to a delivery provider, ERP or warehouse system.
One broken connection between these stages is enough to turn a beautiful checkout into a failed purchase.
That is why stores should test the complete order journey, not just the visible form.
How to audit checkout in one evening
A useful first audit does not require advanced tools.
Open the store on a normal smartphone.
Find a product through a category page.
Add it to cart.
Change the quantity.
Enter a new delivery address.
Choose a pickup point.
Go back and switch to home delivery.
Apply a discount if available.
Enter an incorrect phone number.
Choose a payment method.
Continue to the payment page.
Then repeat the process with another location and another product.
Write down every moment where you had to stop and think.
Useful questions include:
What does the store want me to do now?
Why does it need this field?
What will I pay in total?
When will the order arrive?
What happens after I click this button?
Can I go back without losing my data?
If the store owner cannot answer these questions quickly, customers will struggle even more.
Fix the funnel before buying more traffic
Imagine that paid campaigns bring 10,000 visitors every month.
It is easy to increase the budget and attract 15,000.
But if the checkout itself is losing customers because of technical or UX problems, higher traffic simply creates more abandoned orders.
Sometimes the better investment is fixing the final part of the funnel.
Advertising gets customers to the store.
Revenue depends on what happens afterwards:
product page;
cart;
delivery;
payment;
checkout.
Traffic acquisition and conversion optimisation should therefore be treated as one system.
How this applies to PrestaShop
PrestaShop already includes the core building blocks required for checkout:
carts;
customers;
addresses;
carriers;
payment modules;
orders.
But the actual customer experience depends heavily on the theme, store version and installed modules.
A real project may need to combine:
guest checkout;
multiple carriers;
pickup points;
parcel lockers;
home delivery;
card payments;
local payment methods;
cash on delivery in selected markets;
promo codes;
custom checkout fields;
different rules for different products or countries.
The quality of checkout is therefore not defined by how many modules are installed.
It is defined by how well they work together.
In Ewonta-based stores, checkout is treated as part of the wider e-commerce system rather than an isolated form.
Because the underlying platform is PrestaShop, delivery, payment and order logic can be adapted to the needs of a particular business and market.
The goal is to remove friction between purchase intent and payment
A customer who has already placed a product in the cart has completed a significant part of the journey.
They do not need to be sold the product again.
They need a clear path to finish the purchase.
Transparent pricing.
Appropriate delivery.
Familiar payment methods.
Only the information that is genuinely required.
A checkout that works properly on mobile.
Clear errors.
Predictable buttons.
A final order summary.
Individually, these things may look small.
Together, they determine whether checkout works.
If an online store receives traffic and customers regularly add products to cart but the number of completed orders remains lower than expected, the next advertising campaign may not be the first place to look.
Start by completing your own checkout as if you were a customer.
A few minutes can reveal a problem that has been costing sales for months.