Why Shoppers Abandon Carts and How to Fix It in PrestaShop

Nearly 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before checkout. For a PrestaShop store doing 10,000 EUR in monthly sales, that means roughly 23,000 EUR worth of products are being added to carts but never purchased. Understanding why — and fixing the root causes — is one of the highest-ROI activities you can pursue.

The Real Reasons Behind Cart Abandonment

Forget the common wisdom that says it is all about price. Research consistently shows the same top reasons, and most of them are about friction, not cost:

• Unexpected costs at checkout (48%) — Shipping fees, taxes, or handling charges that appear only at the final step.
• Required account creation (26%) — Forcing registration before purchase adds an unnecessary barrier.
• Complicated checkout process (22%) — Too many steps, too many form fields, confusing navigation.
• Concerns about payment security (18%) — Missing trust signals make customers hesitate with their credit card.
• Slow delivery options (16%) — When estimated delivery is too far out, urgency drops.

Streamline Your Checkout Process

The single most impactful change you can make is simplifying checkout. Every additional step in the checkout process increases abandonment by approximately 10%. A five-step checkout will always underperform a two-step one.

The ideal PrestaShop checkout should:

• Allow guest checkout — do not force account creation.
• Minimize form fields — ask only for what is essential to complete the order.
• Show all costs upfront — shipping, taxes, everything visible before the payment step.
• Offer multiple payment methods — credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, local payment methods.
• Support one-click purchasing for returning customers.

Express checkout solutions that consolidate the entire process into a single page see conversion improvements of 20-35% compared to multi-step flows. The math is simple: fewer clicks, fewer drop-offs.

Build Trust at Every Step

Security concerns kill conversions silently. Customers who do not trust your checkout will simply leave — they will not tell you why. Combat this with visible trust signals:

• SSL certificate and padlock icon (essential, not optional).
• Recognized payment provider logos displayed prominently.
• Clear return and refund policies linked from the checkout page.
• Customer reviews and social proof visible throughout the shopping journey.

Create Urgency Without Being Pushy

Social proof notifications — showing recent purchases by other customers — create a subtle but powerful sense of urgency. When a visitor sees that someone in their city just purchased the same product they are considering, it validates their interest and motivates action.

These notifications work because they tap into two psychological principles: social proof (others are buying, so it must be good) and scarcity (if others are buying, stock might run out).

Recovery Strategies for Abandoned Carts

Even with an optimized checkout, some abandonment is inevitable. The key is having a recovery system in place:

• Email reminders — Send a personalized email within 1 hour of abandonment, followed by a second after 24 hours.
• Incentivize return visits — A small discount code in the follow-up email can recover 5-15% of abandoned carts.
• Retargeting ads — Show the abandoned products in Facebook and Google ads to bring shoppers back.

Measure and Iterate

Track your cart abandonment rate in Google Analytics and compare it month over month. Every percentage point improvement translates directly to revenue. Start with the checkout simplification — it typically delivers the biggest wins — then layer in trust signals and recovery campaigns.