What is a good cart abandonment rate?
Updated March 8, 2026 4 min read
The global average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is 70-75%, according to data aggregated across Baymard Institute, Statista, and SaleCycle research. Top-performing stores hit 55-60%. Getting below 50% is exceptional and typically requires both excellent UX and strong pricing transparency.
What counts as a “good” abandonment rate
Abandonment rate is calculated as: (1 - purchases / carts created) × 100
If 1,000 people add to cart and 300 complete a purchase, abandonment rate is 70%.
Benchmarks by segment:
| Segment | Average Abandonment | Good | Exceptional |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ecommerce | 70-75% | 60-65% | Below 55% |
| Desktop | 65-70% | 55-60% | Below 50% |
| Mobile | 80-85% | 70-75% | Below 65% |
| High AOV (€200+) | 80-85% | 70-75% | Below 65% |
| Fashion | 75-80% | 65-70% | Below 60% |
| Grocery/FMCG | 55-65% | 45-55% | Below 45% |
Mobile always shows higher abandonment than desktop — typically 15-20 percentage points higher — because mobile checkout UX is harder to get right and purchase intent at the device level differs.
Why most cart abandonment is normal
Not every cart abandonment represents a lost sale. Research consistently shows that a significant portion of shoppers use carts as wishlists or price-comparison tools. They were never going to buy in that session.
Baymard Institute survey data (2024) puts intentional cart-as-wishlist usage at roughly 40% of abandonment cases. That 40% you cannot fix. Focus optimization energy on the other 60% — those are customers who intended to buy but encountered friction.
The fixable abandonment breaks down roughly as:
- Unexpected costs (shipping, taxes revealed late): ~28% of total abandonment
- Forced account creation: ~16%
- Complicated checkout: ~12%
- Security concerns: ~10%
- Payment method gaps: ~8%
The revenue impact of incremental improvement
Abandonment rate improvement doesn’t require dramatic changes to move revenue meaningfully. Here’s the math for a store processing 2,000 carts per month at an €85 AOV:
| Abandonment Rate | Purchases | Monthly Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 75% (current) | 500 | €42,500 |
| 70% | 600 | €51,000 |
| 65% | 700 | €59,500 |
| 60% | 800 | €68,000 |
Moving from 75% to 65% abandonment adds €17,000/month in revenue from the same traffic. That’s a 40% revenue increase from a 10-point abandonment improvement.
How to benchmark your actual rate
Calculate separately for:
- Mobile vs. desktop — always track this split; the gap tells you whether mobile UX is the primary problem
- New vs. returning customers — returning customers abandon less; a large gap suggests checkout trust issues for new buyers
- By traffic source — paid traffic abandons more than organic; this is normal
- By cart value — higher-value carts show more hesitation; this is expected and informs where to add reassurance
If you’re above 75% overall, or above 85% on mobile specifically, those are signals that addressable friction is costing you significantly.
Compare your current abandonment rate against these benchmarks. If you’re above category average, start with why customers abandon carts to identify the highest-leverage fixes. For a structured diagnosis of your specific checkout, a UX audit identifies the exact friction points causing your rate to be higher than it needs to be.
For a complete breakdown, read Cart Abandonment Fixes That Actually Move the Needle.