Reduce Cart Abandonment This Holiday Season

July 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Christine Bardwell, research manager, IDC Retail Insights EMEA 

Boost your online conversion rate in five easy steps.

Just as in physical retail, consumers “window shop” online stores, filling their baskets before leaving the site without buying. In fact, the conversion rate (i.e. number of visitors making a purchase) is generally less than 10%, with the majority of retailers achieving between 2% and 5%.

To boost conversion this holiday season, retailers must improve the online customer experience. A surprising number of online businesses do not track conversion rates at all, but to increase sales by improving the customer experience, it is important to analyze conversion and know the starting point. Simple conversion measurements can be made by dividing the number of transactions over a certain period by the number of unique visitors to the site. More sophisticated conversion measurements should look at conversions by the hour as well as page views, unique sessions, and referring URLs. Factoring in seasonality is vital. Retailers may also choose to look at outcomes other than sales, such as reserve and collect, or coupon download.