Seven out of ten customers who reach your checkout page leave without buying. Let that sink in. You didn't lose them to a competitor. You didn't lose them on price. They were ready, cart full, intent high and something in your checkout process broke the moment.
That's checkout abandonment. And for most D2C brands, it's quietly bleeding more revenue than any ad budget problem, supply chain hiccup, or slow season ever will.
The Baymard Institute puts the global cart abandonment rate at 70.22% in 2025. But the number isn't really the story. The story is what's happening in those final few clicks- the friction, the doubt, the "I'll come back to this later" that never happens.
This piece gets into why it happens, what your checkout is doing wrong, and how to fix it.
What is Checkout Abandonment?
Cart abandonment is when a customer adds items to their online shopping cart, initiates the payment process, but leaves without buying anything. But the question is, despite having the intent to buy, why do customers leave at checkout?
It is not a niche problem. It happens across every sector- from fashion, beauty, to electronics, home and F&B. The customer decides, clicks “proceed to pay,” and then something stops them.
Customers drop off at checkout for several reasons:
- Limited payment options
- Complex checkout flows
- Unexpected costs
- Slow checkout pages
- Mandatory account creation
- Security concerns
Each of these is fixable. But you can’t fix something you don’t measure, and most D2C brands overlook checking their checkout funnel closely enough to gauge where the exits are.
he average checkout abandonment rate globally in 2025 is 70.22%.
Source: Baymard Institute
Cart Abandonment V/S Checkout Abandonment- What's the Difference?
Cart abandonment = items added, checkout never started.
Checkout abandonment = checkout started, payment never completed.
Same lost sale. Very different problem to fix.
Cart abandonment comes early in the funnel. Someone randomly browses a website, adds a few items to their wishlist, and closes the tab. You can bring them back with a reminder, discount, or a nudge.
Checkout abandonment is different. This customer has already decided and hit “buy”. Their mind changed at the last moment because something in your checkout process is not right.
While both may sound similar, there is a small difference between them. Cart abandonment is when a customer adds items to their carts while browsing but leave before initiating the payment process. Checkout abandonment, on the other hand, occurs when a customer initiates checkout but leaves before completing the payment.
The problem is brands treat both the same way. They send abandoned cart emails and offer coupon codes etc to customers to bring them back. That works for cart abandonment. For checkout abandonment, the solution is looking at your checkout itself- payment options, page loading speed, form fields, and error messages.
Fixing cart abandonment is a marketing problem. Fixing checkout abandonment is a product problem.
What Does Checkout Abandonment Actually Cost?
₹20.7 crore in lost sales opportunities per year- for a business doing ₹9 crore+ in annual revenue.
Source: Baymard Institute. Currency conversion applied.
That number is hard to ignore because the revenue loss is huge.
With every abandoned cart comes a higher customer acquisition cost. Now you will have to spend so much again on ads, SEO, etc to re-acquire or find new customers.
There’s a trust factor, too, that fades away whenever a checkout fails. It damages how the customer sees your brand. And most of them would not even come back.
Did you know?
Source: Baymard Institute
(Currency conversions applied; figures based on global ecommerce benchmarks and usability studies.)
Losing sales at checkout? See how DashCheckout fixes it →
Top 3 Reasons for Cart Abandonment
Following are the primary reasons why customers abandon carts while shopping online from an ecommerce business.
Reason#1: You're Missing the Payment Method They Want
42% of shoppers abandon checkout when their preferred payment method isn’t available.
Source: Baymard Institute
Picture a fashion brand earning huge revenue. High-quality products, strong customer reviews, great traffic. But their checkout only supports UPI and one card network. A customer adds four high-end designer dresses, hits checkout, and does not see the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) option. She wanted to split it across three months. It’s not that she can’t afford it. It’s that your checkout didn’t give her the option she came in expecting.
She leaves. Probably buys from a competitor who gave her this option.
One missing option can lead to an instant drop off.
In today’s fast-evolving financial landscape, customers expect flexibility in how they pay. Based on age, geography, device, and transaction value, different customers prefer different payment methods. While most mobile shoppers prefer UPI or wallet options, customers making high-value payments might prefer EMI or BNPL options. Therefore, it is crucial to offer multiple payment options during checkout to reduce checkout abandonment. The point is: your checkout needs to match how your customer base wants to pay, not how it was easiest to set up.
“One missing payment option is enough to lose the sale permanently.”
How airpay fixes this?
Our payment gateway for small businesses provides multiple payment options like UPI, cards, wallets, net banking, PayPal, BNPL, EMI etc, offering flexibility to your customers to pay their way. By reducing payment friction, airpay helps them complete the transactions and reduce cart abandonment.
Reason #2: Your Checkout Is Too Slow
Most checkout abandonments happen on mobile. If your checkout isn’t built for mobile speed, you’re leaking revenue on your highest-traffic channel.
Today, payment processing speed can either make or break a sale for e-commerce businesses. On mobile, where most D2C purchases happen, fast checkouts have become non-negotiable for customers; if it is slow, then you will lose customers.
Slow checkout happens due to:
- Low page loading speed
- OTP delays
- Laggy redirects to payment pages
- Heavy plugins
- Slow hosting
A fast checkout also tells the customers that your website is up and working, while a slow checkout raises questions in their minds. That doubt, when a transaction happens, kills the sale. And this problem compounds on sale days- exactly when you need your checkout to perform despite traffic spikes.
When checkout is slow, customers lose their confidence and are more likely to abandon their carts. In contrast, a fast checkout builds customer trust and encourages them to complete their purchase.
“A checkout that lags two seconds on mobile is a checkout that loses the sale.”
How airpay fixes this?
Smart payment routing selects the fastest available gateway in real time. Checkout flows are optimised for mobile. And unlike setups that degrade under traffic, airpay holds performance during peak loads, optimising both payment processing and checkout flow.
- Businesses benefit from our fast checkout payment solution:
- Fast payment processing for hassle-free checkouts
- A unified checkout experience
- Smooth checkout flows optimised for mobile-first commerce
- Smart routing for higher success rates
- Reduced checkout complexity across payment methods
- Reliable performance at scale, despite traffic surges
Learn more about smart routing [internal link: Dashcheckout features page]
Reason #3: You're Making Them Fill Out the Same Form. Again.
Long checkout forms are among the top causes of mobile drop-off. Returning customers expect the process to remember them.
Think about the last time you bought something on your phone. You typed your name, number, email address, full address with pincode, city, and state. Now imagine doing this every time you buy from the same store.
That’s what most D2C checkouts put returning customers through.
It is not just checkout friction; it is equivalent to a lost sale.
In a fast-paced digital environment, customers expect their checkouts to be instant, effortless and hassle-free. If they find it tedious, they are most likely to abandon the carts and shop from a competitor who offers them a smoother experience.
The customer who purchased from you last month is your easiest conversion. They already trust your brand and want the product. The only thing that stands between them and the purchase is your checkout. If it asks too much of them, they will find a brand that asks less.
How airpay fixes it?
airpay's dashcheckout uses OTP-based verification to automatically pre-fill customer details. This reduces manual inputs and speeds up the checkout process, improving conversion rates.
With Dashcheckout:
- Recover revenue lost sales
- Build customer trust
- Increase customer lifetime value
- Reduce cart abandonments
- Lower customer acquisition costs
- 'From filling address to delivery' all in one click
DashCheckout- Built for This Specific Problem
Understanding these pain points of merchants, airpay developed Dashcheckout, a fast checkout payment solution designed to handle common checkout drop off causes. With some useful features like the One-Click Checkout, Smart Payment Routing, Comprehensive Analytics, and Advanced Security, it combines speed, reliability, and flexibility.
What it gives you:
| Multiple payment options | Cards, UPI, wallets, bank transfers, BNPL — all in one integration |
| One-click checkout | Returning customers skip the form and complete in seconds |
| Smart payment routing | Fastest gateway selected in real time |
| Automatic retry | Failed transactions recovered without the customer noticing |
| Real-time monitoring | Problems surface before they cost you |
Ready to stop losing sales at checkout?
Set up DashCheckout and see the difference in your first week.
FAQ
What's the difference between cart abandonment and checkout abandonment? Cart abandonment occurs when someone adds items but never begins checkout. Checkout abandonment is when they start the payment process but don't complete it.
What causes checkout abandonment? The three biggest causes are limited payment options, slow checkout speeds, and friction from long or repeated forms. Security concerns and unexpected fees also contribute.
How do I reduce checkout abandonment on mobile? Prioritise speed, support one-click or pre-filled checkout for returning users and ensure every major payment method is available. Mobile checkout failures are disproportionately high compared to desktop.
Does payment method availability really affect checkout completion? Yes. Research shows 42% of shoppers abandon checkout if their preferred payment method isn't available. One missing option is enough to lose the sale.
What is DashCheckout? DashCheckout is airpay's fast checkout solution. It combines smart payment routing, OTP-based customer data pre-fill, one-click checkout for returning users, and real-time transaction monitoring- built specifically to reduce D2C checkout drop-off.
