Survey: Shipping costs top concern of US online shoppers

High shipping costs emerged as the top reason US online buyers abandon their shopping carts, recent research from payment gateway Paypal revealed.

A significant 40% of shoppers, however, said they would've completed their purchases had the shipping costs been displayed upfront, prompting the gateway company to launch a new service called Express Checkout which integrates a Paypal Instant Update API, enabling merchants to show order details earlier in the purchase.

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"To get shoppers to complete their purchases, it is critical that merchants make the checkout experience easy and costs transparent," said Mario Shiliashki, general manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India . "Our new PayPal Instant Update API will help merchants get customers the information they need upfront to drive sales."

Filipino merchants with customers in the USA may also find it relevant that security concerns and lack of convenience came up as the next two reasons buyers abandon their carts, which, according to Paypal, costs suppliers an average of $109.

"Besides the cost factor, merchants who aim to sell to a global audience need to remember that online shopping needs to be a hassle-free and safe experience for the buyer," added Shiliashki. "Integration with shopping cart vendors, hosting vendors and efficient methods of payment like PayPal makes the shopping journey more seamless for the buyer. Sweetening the deal with free shipping, coupons and special discounts is also a great way to encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases -- especially with the upcoming Holiday season."

Aside from the abovementioned factors, cost still reigns as a major hindrance for customers looking to buy products online. "More than one-third of respondents abandoned checkout because they didn't plan for all of the expenses; while more than 25 percent left the site to search for a coupon. However, one-third of shoppers later returned to the same site to buy. 20 percent of those surveyed eventually went on to purchase the items at a physical store or at a competitor's website," the survey revealed.