Cart abandonment rate
Most rigorous benchmark in scope; checkout friction.
- Formula
- 1 - (completed purchases / carts created)
- Unit
- %
- Models
- E-commerce
| overall average | 70.22% | Baymard Institute |
| mobile | 80% | Baymard Institute |
| desktop | 66% | Baymard Institute |
What it is
Cart abandonment rate measures the proportion of initiated shopping carts that do not result in a completed purchase. The formula is: 1 - (completed purchases / carts created), expressed as a percentage.
How to calculate it
Count all sessions in which a user added at least one item to the cart (carts created), then subtract the count of completed purchases and divide the remainder by carts created. Multiply by 100 for a percentage. Ensure your cart-creation event fires reliably — misconfigured add-to-cart tracking is a common source of inflated abandonment figures.
Why it matters
Cart abandonment directly measures checkout funnel leakage. Because these users have already demonstrated purchase intent, recovery (via email, SMS, or retargeting) is typically higher-ROI than top-of-funnel acquisition. Even a small reduction in abandonment rate compounds directly into revenue without requiring additional traffic.
Benchmarks & pitfalls
Baymard Institute (2023) aggregated 49–50 published studies and found a global average cart abandonment rate of 70.22%, a figure that has been stable in the 69–71% range since 2014. Device type creates a significant split: mobile averages ~80% abandonment vs. ~66% on desktop. This means stores with high mobile traffic share will naturally report higher blended abandonment rates, so always segment by device before drawing conclusions. Baymard's figure represents an intent-based benchmark; stores with mandatory account creation or long checkouts can exceed 85%, while optimized guest-checkout flows can approach 60%.