Shopping cart abandonment: an under-exploited source of value in e-commerce

Despite the statistical findings, shopping cart abandonment (55 to 75%1 of initiated shopping carts) is not a fatality. Retailers like Cultura and FNAC have been demonstrating this for several years with a dynamic, 360° approach to their customers’ selections. Their strength? To ensure an overall view of the product selection and to associate additional offers and advantages in real time, regardless of the customer’s channels (at home, on the move, in store).

Distributors: aim for the top!

“This ‘seamless’ collection between physical and digital channels is the first prerequisite for better basket completion,” says Philippe Petit, product marketing manager at Generix. “The second element relies on the retailer’s ability to analyze, in real time, the nature and value of products, and to trigger personalized offers in correlation, which improve customer satisfaction and the retailer’s margin.”

15 % That’s the increase in revenue generated by a personalized e-commerce customer experience.2

To become a reality, this promise requires a software suite capable of transforming “static” shopping carts into dynamic allies for retailers. “Omnichannel Sales ensures this mission by integrating ‘sales gas pedals’ that offer customers discounts, additional products, advantages or loyalty points depending on the products they select,” says Philippe Petit.

Golden Rules

1. A high-performance shopping cart is unique, omnichannel and seamless.
2. It is managed in a personalized, contextual, and real-time manner.
3. It is an instrument of customer relationship and satisfaction:
4. It improves sales, margin, and loyalty.

The customer in search of omnichannel fluidity

Consumer journeys are made up of constant back and forth between several spaces (physical and digital), several terminals and several moments (information searches, price comparisons, analysis of comments, delivery conditions, etc.). In networks that combine in-store and online sales, too many baskets turn into a trap, due to a lack of management in line with this “mosaic” of expectations and behaviors.

There is also the case of franchised stores, which do not always have the same management systems as branches, resulting in a discontinuity in customer relations. In marketplaces, the rate of completion of baskets varies greatly depending on the costs and delivery conditions of each supplier.

“The unified basket, a factor of recurrence, recognition and valuing of customers”

“The absence of a unified shopping cart, managed in real time, penalizes the brands. Between two distributors that are apparently equivalent, the customer always chooses the one that provides the most simplicity and recognition,” continues Philippe Petit. To reverse this trend, Generix Omnichannel Sales aggregates data in a single basket, thus freeing distributors from the problems of re-entering or merging files.

The solution integrates the entire spectrum of information from the basket (items, value), the customer journey (physical and digital), the transaction, promotions, loyalty, and history (recency, frequency, value). Consumers feel known, recognized and rewarded for their loyalty. “It’s a strong element of differentiation, with an end-to-end buying process, regardless of the channels and paths,” says Philippe Petit.

The status can be configured (pending, abandoned, cancelled). The customer, the sales consultant and the after-sales service find in real time the basket made via an e-commerce site, a wish list prepared on the phone, an order made on the salesperson’s tablet. The retailer can create and instantly distribute discount codes sent by SMS, encouraging consumers to go to the store or online Omnichannel Sales even offers web services for VAT processing and legal collection of baskets generated via a salesperson’s tablet or an in-store kiosk.

48 % of French people use their cell phone when they are in a store.3

Clear and efficient returns management: an important decision factor for e-customers

Returns are the third most important decision factor for e-customers, after price and delivery terms. The clearer the brand is on the conditions of return (deadlines, logistics), the more it encourages customer trust and commitment. “Generix uses the complete information of the registered baskets in the case of a partial or complete return of a purchase“, underlines Philippe Petit. Whether it was generated in-store and/or online, the single shopping cart kept in Omnichannel Sales facilitates the management of returns, with the same level of information regardless of the origin of the order (mobile, web, store, call center…). Generix hopes to eventually offer analysis of the reasons for basket abandonment, whether it be a pricing policy on a product line, an overcost between the value of the product and its delivery cost, or a lack of clarity on return conditions. The result is a significant reduction in the number of unfulfilled shopping carts in consumer e-commerce. Sources: 1According to statistics published by Baymard institutes 2 According to a study by AB Tasty, The future of personalization in e-commerce, 2019. 3 According to a study by OpinionWay and iloveretail.fr, Les Français et le commerce sur mobile, 2021. (Link in French)