PayPal: Shipping costs prompt shoppers to abandon online transactions

-- Home Textiles Today, 6/23/2009 1:18:00 PM

San Jose, Calif. – PayPal released a survey today that found 45% of online shoppers have ditched their carts multiple times over the past three weeks because of high shipping costs, lack of convenience and other concerns.

The online payment service provider found that 40% halted their transactions when they discovered the shipping fee. More than one-third said they stopped their transactions at check-out because they had not planned for the expense, while more than 25% left the site to search for a coupon.

About one-third of shoppers later returned to the same site to buy, but 25% completed their purchase either at a bricks-and-mortar store or at another Web site.

Another 23% said the item they were searching for wasn’t available at checkout, 22% cited inadequate customer support and 21% were concerned about the security of their credit card data.

In sharing the survey results, PayPal announced a new express checkout feature that allows retailers to show order details earlier in the shopping process.