Reasons behind abandoned shopping carts

'Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that some 65 percent of online consumers bail out of a transaction and abandon the shopping carts before the final purchase transaction took place.' Daunting numbers for any online retailer and something that is still not explained in very clear terms during analysis phase. Some of the known reasons for abandoned shopping carts are:

1) Price not equal to value received. This is really a perception thing, consumers might feel that the shipping and the online prices might be higher than what they would spend at a brick and mortar store and they abandon the shopping cart.
2) Too long a process. A frequent internet user might not be daunted by the long process of shopping online which is commonplace in online stores but a not-so-frequent user might loose patience. This might also happen when the site is slow making online shopping a frustrating experience.
3) No mood to really buy. Abandoned carts also result from the 'Window Shopping phenomenon' where the user is not really in the mood to buy anything and leaves the cart once he is satisfied with the browsing experience. there is really not much that can be done to control this just as brick and mortar stores are unable to contain users who leave without buying.
4) Security concerns also play a role in abandonment of shopping cart especially with first time users who are worried about using their credit card online. E-retailers can quell this issue by offering a detailed guideline for first time users and offering assurance regarding credit card theft. In fact, some creative e-retailers have converted to other forms of payments such as payment on delivery etc to ensure that these buyers stick with them.
Abandoned shopping cart is a serious bane of the online industry and recent research by www.DoubleClick.com noted that for every $1 sold online, $5 was in the abandoned cart. In spite of this, ecommerce is growing at a nearly 30% per annum (Source: Doubleclick.com) and that is a real silver lining!