The majority of online SMBs (small to medium size businesses) rely on seasonal business to keep them afloat,but around half (52%) say they have experienced checkout issues during these vital surge shopping periods, up from 43% in 2021. That’s according to new research with over 1,100 merchants in 12 countries commissioned by leading specialised payments platform, Paysafe.
Almost three quarters (74%) say the checkout continues to be a serious competitive advantage, perhaps in part due to the impact when things go wrong. Nearly a third (31%) of businesses who have experienced a surge-related issue with their checkouts lost upwards of US$100,000 – with common issues including checkout system slowdown (46%) and a failure to authorise payments (31%).
This problem takes on more significance if you consider the effort merchants make to get customers to the checkout stage in the first place. Nearly three quarters (74%) cite cart abandonment as an on-going issue in 2022 and 61% say abandonment has increased in last 12 months.