Cart Abandonment

In practice

Cart abandonment describes the point in an online or in-app ordering flow where a guest adds items to an order but leaves before completing checkout. In restaurant ordering — website menus, delivery-app checkouts, or self-order kiosks — the drop-off tends to cluster around a handful of screens: the moment a delivery fee or service charge is added to the subtotal, the address or contact-details step, a forced account-creation prompt, and the final payment screen. A cart is generally counted as abandoned once a session with at least one item added ends without a submitted order, whether the guest closes the tab, the app times out, or checkout stalls.

The concept applies across ordering channels. On a delivery platform it might mean a guest browses a menu, adds three items, and exits at the delivery-fee step. On a restaurant's own website it might mean a completed dish selection abandoned at a login wall. On a kiosk it might mean an order queued at the register but never confirmed because the line moved or the screen timed out.

Why it happens

• Unexpected costs revealed late in checkout, such as delivery fees, service charges, or a minimum-order surcharge not shown on the menu screen
• A mandatory account creation or login step before payment
• Slow page loads, app crashes, or errors at the payment step
• A narrow set of accepted payment methods
• A delivery or pickup time estimate shown only at the last step, longer than expected
• Distraction or comparison shopping across several ordering apps before committing

How it is measured

Abandonment is tracked by comparing sessions that reach "add to cart" against sessions that reach order completion, for the same period and channel. For example, a delivery app records 1,000 sessions with at least one item added and 620 completed orders in that period. 1,000 − 620 = 380 abandoned carts, or 380 ÷ 1,000 = 38%. The remaining 620 ÷ 1,000 = 62% is the completion side of the same funnel — the two figures always sum to 100% of tracked sessions.

What affects it

• Number of steps between "add to cart" and payment confirmation
• Timing of fee disclosure — shown on the menu versus revealed only at checkout
• Device type, since mobile checkouts on small screens see higher drop-off than desktop
• Load time of the checkout page or app screen
• Range of payment methods accepted at the final step
• Whether guest checkout is available or an account is required