Shopping cart abandonment is quite prevalent in an online business. It can be a quite frustrating for any business owner to see abandoned shopping carts on their online stores. As the customer reaches the finish line of placing an order, something barricades the checkout process that abolishes the potential sale.
A confusing checkout process can easily lead to shopping cart abandonment. It is the business owner’s job to get his/her customer through the checkout process as fast as possible. In order to overcome the rising concerns about incompetence checkout, e-Commerce stores (including nopCommerce) have adapted some new trends like one-page checkout in order to reduce the number of steps in the checkout process. But, technically, a one-page checkout is no different from a multi-page checkout as it requires the same amount of information but in a condensed one page.
For any business owner, choosing the right checkout process for an e-Commerce store is quite crucial. So let us compare one-page checkout with multi-page checkout and how these two processes impact the purchase time and sales.
One-page Checkout Process
As the name implies, the one-page checkout form fits in a single page. The one-page checkout is basically same as multi-page checkout but an abbreviated version in one single page. The term “one-page” conveys a simple but important message to the online audience i.e. a simple easy to use one page form. Why one-page checkout process is more user-friendly? The best way to understand this concept is by comparing the checkout process by a supermarket. Majority of people in a supermarket tends to go to the speedy checkout counters or shorter lines.
Speedy checkout: There is no doubt about the fact that one-page checkout is faster than multi-page checkout as there are no additional pages to load.
Easy to navigate: Another reason why online customers find one-page checkout more user-friendly is because of its simplified navigation process as everything is organized in one page showing the customers a clear top to bottom path.
Linear design: In respect of the layout, one-page checkout follows a linear design which in theory decreases the number of chances for checkout abandonment as there is no side-to-side steps distraction.
Multi-page Checkout Process
Just like one-page checkout, multi-page checkout process has its own advantages. There is a reason why still majority of online stores are sticking to this traditional multi-page checkout process. Most of the online users who shop online are familiar with this process then why make changes to it?
Useful for complex orders: Multi-page checkout process is useful to shoppers while placing a complex order such as: ordering items with multiple shipping addresses or placing an order for configurable items that offers customizable options to choose from.
Easy to deal with third-party payment methods: When an online store is working with different partners to offer third-party payment methods, a multi-page checkout makes the ordering process much easier.
Interesting fact
Did you know the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.06%? See this: http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate
At the end of the day, there is no right checkout process that guarantees 0% cart abandonment rate. Every business owner aims for more sales, increased traffic and more customers adding products in their online shopping cart. Depending on the business type and the audience, an online business should select the checkout process that works for them whether it is a one-page checkout or a multi-page checkout process.
nopCommerce is the leading open source shopping cart, that offers both: one-page checkout as well as multi-page checkout process. nopCommerce also offers a simplified checkout experience that provide customers with various options. For example, gift wrap their items or personalize with messages and option for discounts codes / coupons.
Author: Lavish Kumar