Unexpected fees, shipping costs included, are the leading stated reason shoppers abandon a cart
Dynamic Yield, a Mastercard company, reports on its cart abandonment benchmark page, captured on September 7, 2026, that 55 percent of shoppers abandon a cart because of unexpected fees, shipping costs among them, a figure the page cites from other market statistics. In the same cited statistics, 21 percent of shoppers abandon over complicated or lengthy checkouts and 17 percent over lack of trust in the site. The benchmark itself, drawn from Dynamic Yield's own eCommerce statistics and reported month by month, shows Food and Beverage with the highest abandonment rate in July at 81.92 percent, Beauty and Personal Care highest over the past twelve months at 79.94 percent and Pet Care and Veterinary Services lowest at 50.89 percent, and mobile carts abandoned at 79.84 percent against 69.48 percent on desktop.
- 55% Of Shoppers Abandon Over Unexpected Fees, Shipping Included (Market Statistics The Page Cites)
- 81.92% Food And Beverage Abandonment In July, The Highest Category
- 79.84% Of Mobile Carts Abandoned, Against 69.48% On Desktop
The delivery fee is the one part of the last mile a customer sees before the order exists, and the market statistics the page cites have 55 percent of shoppers abandoning over it, the leading stated reason. Whatever a mile costs, the shipper decides whether that cost shows at checkout or in the margin, so cost per stop and delivery fee work is conversion work as much as cost work, and the buyers presenting on those numbers in Las Vegas are working the same problem from the operations side. Free shipping thresholds are a network decision as well as a merchandising one: a threshold that moves the basket moves parcel weight, split shipments and delivery density, which is where carriers, final mile specialists and routing suppliers are actually selling. Mobile carts fail most, and mobile is where the promise is read, so the fee, the date and the options on a phone screen decide the sale, and delivery promise, visibility and customer communication tools make their case on that screen. One caution for anyone quoting the reason figures: the page cites them from other market statistics without naming the underlying studies, so they travel as Dynamic Yield's citation, not as a primary survey.