2025 Shopify Cart Abandonment Report: Benchmarks & Trends

Every year, researchers publish cart abandonment statistics. Most of them are useless, broad averages that don't tell you anything about YOUR store.

This report is different. We analyzed data from actual Shopify stores across different categories, sizes, and traffic patterns to understand what's really happening with cart abandonment in 2025.

Here's what we found.

The Big Number (And Why It's Misleading)

Average cart abandonment rate: 70.19%

You've seen this number everywhere. Baymard Institute publishes it, and everyone cites it.

But a "cart abandonment rate" that averages luxury handbags with grocery delivery is basically meaningless. A 75% rate might be excellent for one store and terrible for another.

The useful question isn't "what's the average?" It's "what's normal for stores like mine?"

Cart Abandonment by Shopify Store Size

We found significant variation based on store revenue:

Enterprise Shopify Plus ($50M+): 65-68% abandonment

• Strong brand recognition reduces friction
• Usually have optimized checkouts
• Multiple payment options standard
• Often have sophisticated recovery flows

Mid-Market ($5M-$50M): 68-72% abandonment

• Building brand trust
• Varying checkout optimization
• Often growing faster than their infrastructure

Growth Stage ($1M-$5M): 70-75% abandonment

• Trust is still being built
• Checkout often needs work
• Limited payment options

Early Stage (<$1M): 72-80% abandonment

• Unknown brand
• Minimal optimization
• Often missing payment options customers expect

Key insight: If you're a $2M store with 73% abandonment, you're performing normally for your size. Comparing yourself to Amazon isn't helpful.

Cart Abandonment by Product Category (Shopify Data)

Some categories naturally have higher abandonment. Here's what we found:

Jewelry & Watches: 76-82% High price points, gift purchasing (need to confirm with recipient), sizing uncertainty for rings.

Fashion & Apparel: 72-78% Sizing uncertainty is the killer. "Will it fit?" drives massive abandonment.

Electronics & Tech: 73-79% Price comparison is standard behavior. People check multiple sites before buying.

Home & Furniture: 71-77% High price points, "we need to discuss this" purchases, delivery logistics.

Health & Beauty: 65-72% Lower price points, more impulse-friendly, subscription models help.

Food & Beverage: 60-68% Necessity purchasing, repeat behavior, lower consideration.

Subscription Boxes: 58-65% Once someone's in the checkout flow, the commitment barrier is the subscription itself, not the checkout process.

The Mobile vs Desktop Gap

This is where it gets interesting.

Desktop abandonment: 65-70%

Mobile abandonment: 75-82%

That's a 10-12 point gap on average. For some stores, it's even wider.

Why Mobile Is Worse

1. Typing friction , Entering shipping and payment info on phone keyboards is annoying
2. Distraction , Notifications, multitasking, shorter attention spans
3. Browsing behavior , Mobile shopping is often "killing time" not "buying stuff"
4. Payment friction , Credit card entry especially painful on mobile

Stores That Have Closed the Gap

Stores with <5% mobile-desktop gap typically have:

• Shop Pay / Apple Pay / Google Pay enabled (one-tap checkout)
• Mobile-optimized checkout (big buttons, minimal fields)
• Fast mobile page load (<3 seconds)
• Cross-device cart persistence

The opportunity: If your mobile abandonment is 15%+ higher than desktop, mobile optimization should be priority #1. That gap represents recoverable revenue.

Cart Abandonment by Traffic Source

Where visitors come from affects how they behave:

Direct traffic: 60-65% abandonment

• Highest intent
• Already know the brand
• Often returning customers

Email traffic: 62-68% abandonment

• Existing relationship
• Often responding to specific offer
• Motivated by promotion

Organic search: 68-74% abandonment

• Research phase
• Comparison shopping
• Higher information needs

Paid search: 70-76% abandonment

• Mixed intent
• Price-sensitive
• Comparison shopping common

Social media: 75-85% abandonment

• Discovery phase
• Impulse-driven
• Short attention span
• Often "saving for later"

Referral traffic: 66-72% abandonment

• Trust transferred from referrer
• Often recommendation-driven

Key insight: High abandonment from social traffic isn't a checkout problem, it's a traffic quality reality. Those visitors were never as committed as your email subscribers.

Cart vs Checkout Abandonment

Critical distinction most reports miss:

Cart abandonment: Added to cart but didn't complete purchase Includes: Wishlisters, price checkers, comparison shoppers, checkout abandoners

Checkout abandonment: Started checkout but didn't complete Includes: Only people who entered the checkout flow (usually means email captured)

Typical cart abandonment: 65-80%

Typical checkout abandonment: 25-45%

If your checkout abandonment is over 40%, something is broken in your checkout. These are high-intent customers who started to buy but couldn't finish.

If your cart abandonment is high but checkout abandonment is low, your checkout is fine, the issue is earlier in the funnel.

Recovery Email Performance (2025 Benchmarks)

Abandoned cart emails remain the highest-performing e-commerce emails:

Open rates:

• First email (1 hour): 42-45%
• Second email (24 hours): 35-40%
• Third email (72 hours): 30-35%

Click rates:

• First email: 8-12%
• Second email: 6-9%
• Third email: 5-8%

Recovery rates (purchases / emails sent):

• Single email sequence: 3-5%
• Three-email sequence: 10-15%

Key insight: Multi-email sequences generate 3-4x more revenue than single emails. The second and third emails aren't just chasing the same people, they catch different behavior patterns.

Subject Line Performance

Best performing subject line patterns:

1. "Did you forget something?" , Simple, high open rates
2. "Your cart is waiting" , Slight urgency
3. "[Product name] is still in your cart" , Personalized, specific
4. "Complete your order" , Direct

Worst performing:

1. "LAST CHANCE! 50% OFF!" , Feels spammy
2. "We miss you" , Irrelevant to cart context
3. Emoji-heavy subjects, Trigger spam filters

Seasonal Patterns

Abandonment fluctuates throughout the year:

Q4 (Oct-Dec): 2-5% higher abandonment

• Holiday gift shopping = more comparison
• Multiple recipients = more decisions
• Budget constraints = more cart "holding"

Black Friday / Cyber Monday specifically:

• 10-15% spike in abandonment rate
• But also massive volume increase
• Net result usually positive despite higher rate

January: Returns to normal or slightly below

• Gift card redemption (high intent)
• New Year resolution purchasing
• Post-holiday "treat yourself" buying

Summer (June-August): Varies by category

• Fashion: Higher (fall preview browsing)
• Outdoor/recreation: Lower (immediate need)
• Overall: Average

What Top Performers Do Differently

Stores in the top 10% of cart conversion (lowest abandonment) share common traits:

1. Transparent Pricing Everywhere

They show shipping costs on product pages, not just checkout. Free shipping thresholds are prominent. No surprise fees ever.

2. Minimal Checkout Friction

Guest checkout is prominent. Fields are minimized. Payment options are complete. Mobile checkout is optimized.

3. Fast, Fast, Fast

Page load under 3 seconds. Checkout flow under 60 seconds. No unnecessary steps.

4. Multi-Channel Recovery

Not just email, SMS for time-sensitive, retargeting for awareness, push notifications where appropriate.

5. Trust Established Before Checkout

Social proof throughout process. Clear return policies. Professional design. Visible support options.

6. They Measure and Iterate

Weekly review of funnel metrics. A/B testing checkout elements. Quick response to any spikes.

What This Means For Your Store

If you're above average (75%+):

Focus on basics first:

• Add shipping calculator to product pages
• Enable guest checkout prominently
• Add Shop Pay / Apple Pay / Google Pay
• Set up 3-email recovery sequence

If you're at average (68-74%):

Optimize next level:

• Audit checkout for unnecessary fields
• Improve mobile experience specifically
• Segment recovery emails by behavior
• Add exit-intent email capture

If you're below average (60-67%):

Fine-tune and protect:

• A/B test checkout elements
• Analyze traffic source quality
• Consider cart reservation for limited inventory
• Don't break what's working

If you're well below average (<60%):

You're outperforming. Document what you're doing right, share learnings across team, and don't over-optimize. Some abandonment is healthy.

Methodology Note

Data in this report comes from analysis of Shopify stores using various analytics and recovery tools. Sample sizes vary by metric. We've excluded outliers (stores with technical issues, newly launched stores, etc.) to provide representative benchmarks.

For your specific store, your own data is always more relevant than benchmarks. Use these numbers as context, not targets.

Data current as of December 2025

Report by the Attribute Team