Only 22% of US Consumers Prefer Payment Options on Brand Websites

Cart abandonment — when online shoppers select items with the apparent intention to buy, only to leave those items sitting in digital limbo — happens on every eCommerce website, but PYMNTS Intelligence data reveals that it is especially common on brands’ sites.

As we detailed in “How Preferred Payment Availability Can Reduce Cart Abandonment, a report created in collaboration with Adobe, browsing on brand sites doesn’t mean shoppers intend to actually buy any of the products featured there.

The study — based on surveys with more than 3,500 U.S. consumers — found that a number of factors contribute to the higher levels of cart abandonment seen on brand sites. One major reason is that brand sites often fail to deliver a key element that digitally savvy consumers look for when shopping: payment choice.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that 70% of consumers told us that the availability of their preferred payment method is a significant factor in their store choice, yet just 22% of consumers say brands’ websites are better than retailers’ sites or online marketplaces when it comes to supporting their preferred payment method.

In contrast, 53% say that online marketplaces are the best online option when it comes to offering their preferred payment methods as well as providing multiple payment options. In other words, it is not strictly the number of payment methods that matters — but also whether the eCommerce outlet supports the consumer’s preferred option.

This lack of payment choice helps explain why, over a 30-day time period, consumers will typically walk away from eight digital shopping carts on the average brand site, while they will only abandon about six carts on the typical retailer’s site over that same time frame.

PYMNTS Intelligence also uncovered another reason for higher levels of cart abandonment on brand sites. Some shoppers treat brand sites as repositories of detailed product information. Once those consumers have the information they want, it’s easy for them to click away to a retailer’s site or online marketplace to find the same product — often at a more attractive price — and finalize the purchase there.

The figure above offers a visual breakdown of which product types consumers abandon when surfing various sites. In the case of electronics, slightly more consumers changed their minds midstream as they perused brand sites than when they browsed electronics on shopping or retailer sites. One possible reason: Sites run by brands likely offer the most detailed product specifications electronics buyers want to know, often with manuals and other resources close by. Once shoppers have that information and make the decision in the abstract, they might visit other sites offering better deals to finally make the purchase.

Similarly, grocery brands are more likely to tout important nutritional information not prominently displayed on retail sites and marketplaces.

The fact that retail sites and marketplaces have significantly lower levels of cart abandonment in the categories of electronics and groceries than brand sites suggest consumers may be using brand sites to do their homework but sealing more affordable deals elsewhere. For brand sites, one solution might be to consider offering price-matching deals to shoppers before they abandon their carts.