Shared Cart Functionality Essential to Omnichannel Customer Experience

With more options available to them than ever before, consumers’ purchase journeys are anything but linear. Consumers are shifting between channels during the purchase journey, from mobile to online to store to social media, and in no particular order, before ultimately making a purchase in a channel different than where they started. And they expect that the experience in each of those channels is seamless and consistent with the others. This is just one of the many challenges retailers face in trying to meet the needs of today's omnichannel shoppers.

One way that retailers are seeking to address the challenge of non-linear customer purchase journeys is by introducing shared cart functionality. A shared cart refers to a single shopping cart that enables consumers to shop across channels and be able to reach their cart via phone, computer, or even in-store. They want the ability to “start anywhere and finish anywhere.” According to a recent report from BRP Consulting, 56 percent of consumers indicated they were more likely to shop at a retailer that allowed them to have a shared cart across channels instead of a retailer that does not offer this service.

So, the question then becomes, are retailers offering shared cart functionality to their customers? And the answer is, for the most part, yes. According to Total Retail's 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report, 92 percent of the companies evaluated offer a shared cart, up from 78 percent in our 2018 analysis. Each of the top-five ranked retailers in this year's report received the maximum number of points for a well-executed shared cart program.

Not only is it important for omnichannel retailers to implement shared cart functionality to meet growing customer demand for the service, it makes smart business sense as well. Retailers that have a shared cart see less cart abandonments and, in turn, higher conversion rates. While mobile continues to grow in popularity as a shopping channel, it has yet to become the transaction channel that desktop is. A shared cart can help retailers better capture those consumers that start their purchase journey on mobile, but ultimately make their purchases online or in-store.

Consider the following when evaluating the value of a shared cart for your retail business: six in 10 internet users start shopping on one device but continue or finish on a different one. For many shoppers, the mobile shopping cart has become a wish list, used to save items to their account that they go back to when purchasing in another channel, such as online or in-store.

To learn more about the shared cart programs of top omnichannel retailers, download Total Retail's 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers Report today!