Focus Cart Abandonment: First semi-annual report 2025

Cart abandonment remains one of the biggest challenges in e-commerce. Users who add products to their cart but do not complete the purchase are considered cart abandoners. Although the abandonment rate has slightly decreased in the first half of 2025, the resulting lost revenue remains significant.

This report is based on the behavior of millions of users from over 1,500 online shops across various industries and sizes. The current analysis not only provides new insights but also concrete strategies to sustainably reduce abandonment rates.

Abandonment Rate Slightly Decreased

After rising in the last two half-year periods, the abandonment rate has slightly declined this time. However, at 71.72%, it still exceeds the level from the first half of 2024. Overall, cart abandonment remains a major issue for online shops. Out of the already highly contested traffic, only about 3 out of 10 users who add an item to their cart actually complete the purchase. This results in lost marketing spend and significant revenue potential.

In addition to external factors like seasonality, better-optimized online shops and improved checkout processes may also contribute. For example, more shops are now using various software tools and strategies to prevent cart abandonment. Payment methods like one-click payments (e.g. PayPal) and Buy Now, Pay Later options (e.g. Klarna) continue to gain traction, further helping reduce abandonment rates.

Abandonments Happen Faster

In the past half-year, the median session duration of cart abandoners dropped again, confirming the overall trend that decisions in e-commerce are being made more quickly. While typical users spent 4 minutes and 55 seconds in a shop in the second half of 2023, it was only 4 minutes and 20 seconds in the first half of 2025.

Cart abandoners are navigating online shops more rapidly. Expectations for user experience are rising while patience continues to fall. Offers are often compared quickly across multiple shops. As a result, stores must convince visitors to buy faster, more precisely, and more effectively.

How Do Users Most Often Abandon Purchases?

This study also examined the different ways consumers abandon their purchases. The three main abandonment types are closing the window, navigating back, and becoming inactive in the tab or window. This analysis offers insight into user behavior during the purchase process and where shops can intervene.

Most purchases are abandoned when the tab, browser, or device remains inactive for a longer period. This is followed by clicking the back button and closing the window. This suggests that most users have other tabs or windows open at the same time. They are distracted or possibly comparing different offers. For users likely comparing options, it’s especially worthwhile to implement targeted measures to convince them to complete the purchase.

Which Discount Codes Work Best to Win Back Cart Abandoners?

To combat cart abandonment, many shops use discount codes. These are shown via popups to potential abandoners to encourage them to complete the purchase. But which types of codes are most commonly used, and which perform best?

By far, the most frequently used code is the 5% discount. This is followed by the 10% discount and the 5-euro voucher. However, these common types do not deliver the best results. In terms of conversion rate, the 7-euro voucher performs best, followed by the 12-euro and 3.90-euro vouchers.

Overall, classic amounts like 5 euros or 10 percent perform worse. One possible reason: users have seen these offers too often and barely notice them anymore. Unusual amounts like 7 euros or 12 euros stand out, spark interest, and are more likely to be considered.

It also shows that percentage-based vouchers are used more often but convert worse than fixed-amount vouchers. Conversion rates are 11.2% compared to 6.9%. If the pricing structure allows, shops should consider using fixed-amount discounts.

Expert-Commentary

Conclusion

In the first half of 2025, the abandonment rate decreased slightly for the first time in a year. Still, the issue persists and continues to cause significant revenue loss for online shops. Most users abandon the purchase process despite showing clear buying intent.

This report once again highlights how complex cart abandonment behavior is. Factors like time pressure, price comparisons, checkout complexity, and unclear shipping costs directly impact the final decision. Notably, standard incentives like common discount codes are losing effectiveness, while slightly unusual vouchers convert significantly better.

Cart abandonment remains a major challenge but also holds massive potential. Those who understand where users drop off can counteract it with relatively simple measures. Reducing the abandonment rate remains one of the most powerful levers for increasing revenue in e-commerce.