Every online store faces cart abandonment: according to Baymard Institute, an average of 70.22% of carts end without an order. Some visitors only compare prices, but you can recover carts lost to shipping costs, forced registration, or missing parcel lockers and pick-up points.

Below, we cover the ten most common reasons shoppers don't finish buying in Czechia, a 15-minute mobile checkout test you can run without a developer, and how to rank fixes by impact and effort.

Seven in ten carts are abandoned: what is normal

Cart abandonment rate measures the share of filled carts that don't result in a completed order. On its cart abandonment rate page (updated October 2026), the US-based Baymard Institute reports an average of 70.22% across 50 studies from 2006 to 2025.

Seven out of ten carts left in a physical store would be an emergency, but online shoppers also use carts as wish lists or shipping calculators. In Baymard's US survey, 42% of shoppers have abandoned a cart because they were just browsing. Checkout tweaks won't win them over today, though saving the cart after they close the browser makes returning easier.

The remaining causes are fixable. Baymard's US and European tests show that better checkout design can raise a large retailer's e-commerce conversion rate (the share of visits with an order) by 35.26%. Smaller stores will see different numbers, yet every unnecessary checkout hurdle costs orders.

How to calculate your cart abandonment rate

Divide completed orders by the number of carts with items and subtract the result from one: 1,000 carts and 300 monthly orders give a 70% abandonment rate. You will find these numbers in GA4 (add-to-cart and purchase events) or in your store admin if it tracks abandoned carts.

Ten reasons shoppers don't complete a purchase

High extra costs—shipping, fees, and taxes—deter shoppers most often. Baymard Institute's US survey excludes people who were just browsing; respondents could pick multiple reasons, so the total exceeds 100%.

These reasons are universal, while Czechia mainly differs in the delivery and payment habits covered below. The table shows how each issue looks in a Czech store and how to fix it.

We group the ten reasons into three areas based on where you fix them:

• price (high and hidden costs) — shipping setup and page content,
• convenience (registration, checkout length and bugs, payments, delivery speed) — checkout flow,
• trust (card security concerns, unclear returns) — the entire website.

Shoppers go through the entire purchase consideration process, and checkout is simply the final place where you can lose them unnecessarily.

Prices shoppers see too late

In Baymard's survey, 40% of shoppers cited unexpected costs and 12% couldn't see the total price up front. It feels like an unannounced cover charge on a restaurant bill—except online shoppers leave with a single tap before paying.

Show shipping costs and surcharges early:

• a line on the product page saying "Shipping from CZK …, parcel locker from CZK …" or a link to your rates,
• a carrier, price, and delivery-time overview accessible from both the footer and the cart,
• any cash-on-delivery fee shown right next to the payment option, not just in the final summary,
• a running total including shipping in the cart before the shopper enters an address.

Free shipping and the remaining-amount bar

Free shipping attracts buyers, but it comes out of your margin. A practical middle ground is setting a free-shipping threshold slightly above your average order value to encourage adding another item.

In the cart, show: "Add … more for free shipping." If you prefer not to offer free shipping, that is fine—a price known from the start matters more than zero cost.

Shipping and payments the Czech way

Czech shoppers most often ship orders to self-service parcel lockers and pick-up points. According to APEK data, 48.1% of respondents chose parcel lockers in 2025 (up from 13.3% in 2022), and the number of lockers across Czechia grew to 15,000 in 2025.

Parcel lockers and pick-up points are no longer optional extras. Shoppers pick the network closest to home—if your checkout lacks it, they buy elsewhere.

How they choose matters just as much. Instead of a long address dropdown, embed an address-searchable map that shows nearby lockers and remembers the customer's last choice.

How Czech shoppers pay

According to the State of Czech E-commerce 2025 report by Shoptet and APEK, Czech shoppers most often pay by:

• card online (42%),
• Google Pay or Apple Pay (23%),
• cash on delivery (13%),
• bank transfer (12%).

What this means for your store:

1. Card and mobile payments must run smoothly. Apple Pay and Google Pay turn payment into a single tap without typing card numbers.
2. Keep cash on delivery if your customers want it. It adds fees and uncollected-parcel risk, yet some Czech buyers won't order without it. Display a fair fee up front.
3. Add a QR code to bank transfers. Customers scan it in their banking app instead of copying account numbers.

More options don't make a better checkout. Offer only the carriers and payment methods your audience actually uses, and place the top choices first.

Registration, long forms, and trust

Forced registration drives away 18% of shoppers (Baymard Institute survey). Allow guest checkout and offer account creation after the order—the buyer simply adds a password to the details already entered.

Shorter forms, fewer errors

Baymard's 2024 study found the average e-commerce checkout has 11.3 form fields, though most stores only need 8. How to shorten and simplify your form:

• Company details: Hide company name, IČO (Czech company ID), and VAT fields behind a "Buying for a company" toggle. Then autofill the name and address via IČO from ARES, the Czech Ministry of Finance business register.
• Billing address: Default it to match the shipping address.
• Address autocomplete: Fill in the full address and postal code once the shopper types the street.
• Right mobile keyboard: Show a numeric keypad for phone and postal code, and an email keyboard with the @ key for email.
• Clear error messages: Instead of "Invalid input," write "Enter your phone number as 777 123 456."

Trust: contacts, reviews, and returns

Fear of entering card details on an unfamiliar site makes 19% of shoppers leave (Baymard Institute). Small checkout details decide: a visible phone number and email, clear company info, a familiar payment gateway, and customer reviews.

Since January 6, 2023 (Act No. 374/2022 Sb.), sellers displaying consumer reviews in Czechia must state how they verify those reviews come from real buyers. The Czech Trade Inspection Authority highlights this in its consumer protection law update.

We explain how to collect credible reviews and respond to negative ones in our guide to Google reviews.

An unsatisfactory return policy deters 13% of shoppers (Baymard Institute). Add a clear page explaining the return window, process, and return shipping costs, linked right from checkout. Moreover, from January 1, 2027, Act No. 159/2026 Sb. mandates a contract withdrawal button—so review your entire return flow now.

Test your mobile checkout in 15 minutes

Placing a real order on your phone is the cheapest checkout audit—desktop screens hide many mobile obstacles:

1. Open your store in an incognito tab over mobile data.
2. Search for a product.
3. In the cart, change the quantity, add another item, and remove one.
4. Check the shipping cost before entering personal details.
5. Find a parcel locker on the map by address.
6. Test entering both personal details and a company IČO.
7. Pay by card or phone and check the confirmation email.

Note and screenshot every hesitation—any moment you aren't sure what to do next, have to hunt for info, or feel surprised. Put TEST in the order note and cancel it afterward.

Repeat the test with someone who doesn't know your store, such as a friend or relative. Ask them to think aloud without your help. Wherever they pause, real customers get stuck too.

What to measure and where to start

Step-by-step checkout analytics show where shoppers drop off. In Google Analytics 4, use Funnel exploration. You can map up to 10 steps (such as cart, shipping, payment, and completion) to see how many visitors continue or leave.

The funnel shows where the problem is, not why. Pair it with your mobile test. If visitors leave at shipping and the locker map loads slowly on your phone, you know what to fix first.

Quick wins first, rebuild later

Rank fixes by how many orders they save versus the effort required. This table gives a rough guide for a typical Czech online store; your priorities may vary by platform and product range.

Start with high-impact, low-effort changes. Track your abandonment rate for at least four weeks outside seasonal peaks and sales. Rebuild the entire checkout only when minor tweaks fall short or your current e-commerce platform blocks them.

You can also remind departing visitors if you follow email marketing rules. If shoppers leave before adding anything to the cart, start where the visit begins. Our website homepage guide covers what visitors need to grasp right away.

If you are planning a new online store or a checkout rebuild integrated with Czech carriers and payment methods, estimate the price in our project configurator and see the details under e-commerce development.

Frequently asked questions