Over 60% of Australian consumers are abandoning shopping carts due to high shipping costs, with more than half of Aussie consumers saying discounts will drive them to purchase.
Australian consumers have a high tendency to abandon virtual shopping carts, with 57% discarding their carts sometimes or all the time, particularly in the product categories of fashion (67%) and furniture (65%), according to findings from the SAP Consumer Propensity Study. The research found that Australians are also price-savvy, with 60% of Australian consumers abandoning their shopping cart due to shipping costs and 46% using online carts to compare prices with other brands and websites.
The global survey, which included 1000 Australian participants, asked online consumers about their shopping preferences and motivation to complete a purchase. The results revealed that while prices are the main driver, with 53% of Australian consumers indicating that discounts and promotions succeed in nudging them to complete a purchase, they also want a personalised shopping experience. Just under a third (32%) are encouraged to buy when multiple purchase deals are offered, and 31% are motivated when the retailer provides quick responses to their queries on the item.
Price is not the only deciding factor, another driver of cart abandonment is stock availability. Almost a third (32%) of consumers give up on their carts due to out-of-stock items, and 29% don’t purchase if they see longer-than-expected delivery times. The findings demonstrate retailers need to be conscious that their supply chain and logistics decisions can impact sales.
The SAP Consumer Propensity Study also revealed what Australian customers want from brands when shopping, with simple online shopping features and experiences winning out over new technologies. The majority (57%) of respondents identified easy exchange and return services as the biggest demand from consumers, followed by comparison tools to check prices and specifications (51%) and a physical store where they can try and buy (42%). These requests ranked higher than chatbots or 24/7 customer service (34%) and virtual/augmented reality technologies (33%).
Jennifer Arnold, Vice President of Marketing, Asia Pacific Japan & Greater China, SAP Customer Experience said, “Consumer behaviour at the checkout stage, including items selected and discarded, navigation steps, time spent to complete specific actions, the precise point of abandonment, amongst other factors, provide valuable insight into ways the retailer can boost customer engagement and increase conversion.”
“To achieve this, brands need a robust omni-channel approach based on having a view of the customer across all touch points at all times, and advanced analytics to anticipate customer behaviours and understand their real-time intent. What’s more, brands need to ensure their business processes and systems are integrated with the experiences they deliver to their customers. With this in place, brands will be able to provide a personalised and responsive consumer experience before and after the checkout process.”
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