For any eCommerce business, shopping cart abandonment could be one of the worst nightmares — when shoppers put products in their online shopping carts, but then leave before placing the order, eCommerce retailers could lose millions just because of that.
Studies show that 67.89 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned. When it comes to cross border eCommerce in China, it's even worse: According to the latest research towards cross border eCommerce shoppers in China, 81.8% of them have done at least once abandoned shopping carts.
So the question is: how to avoid these and grow the conversion rate? For these visitors who are already browsing on my site, what can I do to make them click the "checkout" button?
But first, let's see what went wrong.
Why are cross border eCommerce shoppers in China leave without paying
Based on the survey conducted by iResearch, here are 7 main reasons why Chinese shoppers abandon their carts in cross border eCommerce sites:
According to the survey result above, here are the top 4 reasons shoppers abandoned their shopping carts:
Reason #1: Customers are not decided yet/still in their browsing mode.
Customers with this mindset are using shopping carts as wishlists. Quite often, these customers are first time visitors, and what they do is to explore your sites. They will make multiple visits before they decide to buy from you.
A study reinforces this with the fact that less than 1% of new visitors will buy from a website on their very first visit. However, the silver lining is: 75% of these abandoners come with at least some intention to purchase.
Reason #2: Customers found better product/price elsewhere.
After all, eCommerce shoppers are looking for a good deal, so they will compare different shops/sites to find a perfect one. To compete only for price is difficult, but it's not entirely impossible.
Reason #3: Shipping costs too much/did not qualify for "free shipping"/shipping takes too long
Shipping related problems have been haunting cross border eCommerce for long time. In fact, high shipping prices are the number one reason people abandon shopping carts.
Since the goods will be shipped cross border, the time and cost issues are real for merchants. In terms of shipping, how can cross border eCommerce compete with local merchants?
Reason #4: Payment is too complicated.
This usually happen on foreign-based cross border eCommerce sites in China. Foreign eCommerce sites are used to collect payments through credit card, which is not exactly the case in China. Chinese customers are more accustomed to online payment methods, for example, Alipay and WeChat Payment.
So here are the solutions:
Solution #1: To lure customers with tempting promotions through WeChat
It's a great opportunity for new visitors coming in to your site, so go seize it! A good approach is to offer these price-concerned customers with limited-period offers to help them place the order as soon as possible. For example, free shipping, or additional 10% off discount if they place the order in a day.
In the western world, eCommerce retailers usually reach out to customers with these offers through e-mail. In China, instead of e-mail marketing, social platform like WeChat is definitely the way to go. WeChat enables your customers to follow your account, collect online coupons and speak 1-on-1 with you, so promotion through WeChat will bring your business back.
Solution #2: Offer free shipping with a clause
Believe it or not, free shipping offers can be more compelling than price discounts for online shoppers. According to a research, a free shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase by $10!
We both know that cross border retailers to provide free shipping may be too much to ask, but the fact is clear: customers love free shipping, and they are abandoning shopping carts because shipping issues. To compromise, why don't we do free shipping once in a while, as a promotion strategy?
For example, to promote "free shipping week" every few months to boost your revenue. Or, offer shipping benefits to your loyalty membership customers. Strategies like these will bring you a high-converting sales.
Solution #3: Local payment Integration
It really hurts if a customer abandoned shopping cart because of payment options, since payment is the last step to place the order. To lock down your sales in China, local payment integration is a must, so to speak.
Right now in China, Alipay and WeChat Payment are two of the most popular payment options for Chinese eCommerce shoppers. All your need is to find a way to combine your cross border eCommerce with these payment options. Adopting Chinese online payment options could be your easier options to touch base with China market.
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