How to Reduce Cart Abandonment on a Shopify Clothing Store

To reduce cart abandonment on a Shopify clothing store, show the full cost early, shorten checkout, answer size doubts before the cart, and send a recovery email to shoppers who leave. These four fixes match the main reasons people give for leaving.

Fashion has an extra problem: shoppers hesitate over fit. A virtual try-on setup for Shopify targets that hesitation on the product page.

How common is cart abandonment?

The Baymard Institute, a research firm that studies checkout usability, averages the documented rate at 70.22% across 50 studies, according to its cart abandonment rate list. The rates range from 55% to 84% (Baymard, page updated October 2026).

That is across all ecommerce, not only fashion. Treat it as a benchmark, not a prediction for your store.

Why do shoppers abandon their carts?

Baymard also reports the reasons given by US online shoppers. Excluding people who were "just browsing", the top reasons were, per the same Baymard page:

Reason	Share of shoppers
Extra costs were too high (shipping, tax, fees)	40%
Delivery was too slow	20%
Didn't trust the site with card information	19%
Site required creating an account	18%
Checkout was too long or complicated	17%
Website had errors or crashed	17%

Shoppers could choose more than one reason.

How do you deal with surprise costs?

Show shipping and tax information before the cart. Add a line to product pages such as "Free shipping over a set amount" or a link to your shipping page, but only if it is true.

If you offer free returns or paid returns, say so early. Costs found at the last step are the top reason in the table above.

How do you shorten checkout?

Review your settings once. The list in Shopify checkout settings every clothing store should check covers address collection, policies and test orders.

Then walk through checkout on your phone and count the steps. Remove any field you don't need.

How do you answer size doubts before the cart?

Fashion shoppers often leave because they don't know which size to pick. Make the size chart easy to find, and add a note on fit.

A size recommendation can help here. With ZeDaq.ai, the shopper uploads a photo, enters height and gets a size from your own chart. They can also see the garment on themselves with try-on.

What is a simple order of work?

You can't fix everything at once. Work in this order, because the first items match the biggest reasons in the table above.

1. Costs: make shipping, tax and return costs visible before checkout.
2. Delivery: state delivery times on the product page and in the cart.
3. Trust: show contact details, a returns policy and recognizable payment options.
4. Account: allow guest checkout if your settings let you.
5. Speed and errors: test on a phone and fix anything that crashes.

Change one thing at a time and watch your own numbers for a few weeks. That way you know which change helped.

How do you measure progress?

Use your Shopify reports and compare the same weeks each month, so seasonal sales don't distort the picture. Track checkouts started against orders completed. Keep a short note of each change and the date.

If numbers don't move, look at who leaves. Mobile shoppers often leave for different reasons than desktop shoppers, so test each separately.

What should a recovery email do?

Shopify can send abandoned checkout emails. According to the Shopify documentation, you enable them under Apps → Messaging → Automations, and a checkout counts as abandoned after it has been incomplete for more than ten minutes following the customer's email entry.

Keep the email useful:

1. Show the item and its size.
2. Link back to the cart.
3. Add a size guide link or a short fit note.
4. Don't offer a discount unless you plan it, since it trains shoppers to wait.

The email guide Shopify email marketing for clothing brands covers the wider email plan.

How do your returns policy and apps affect it?

A clear returns policy lowers risk for the buyer. The ideas in returns policy ideas that protect margins show choices that don't hurt your profit.

Apps can also slow your store. If you test something and it doesn't help, see how to uninstall a Shopify app cleanly.

FAQs

What is a normal cart abandonment rate?

Baymard's average across 50 studies is 70.22%, as listed on its cart abandonment page. Your own rate can differ.

Do abandoned checkout emails work for phone-number checkouts?

According to Shopify's documentation, no email is sent when the customer used a phone number instead of an email address.

Should I offer a discount in the first recovery email?

Not necessarily. Start with a reminder that includes the size and a fit note, then decide if a discount makes sense.

Is sizing really a reason for abandonment?

Baymard's list doesn't name sizing, so don't treat it as data. Check your own support emails for fit questions to see whether it applies to your store.