How online shopping journeys are changing

Behind every abandoned virtual shopping cart is a customer who almost completed a purchase. Research commissioned by PayPal found that 31 per cent of Australians say they will abandon a purchase if they cannot see the payment method they want to use, while 45 per cent say they will leave if the checkout process is too complicated or requires them to click through too many screens.

As competition intensifies and customer acquisition becomes more expensive, online retailers are paying closer attention to the customer journey itself, examining where shoppers drop out of the purchasing process and how payment visibility and purchasing flexibility influence checkout conversion.

For Jonathan Gregorace, owner of personalised gifting and embroidery retailer The Monogram Shop, those shifts in customer behaviour became particularly noticeable in the years following the pandemic.

Gregorace says customer purchasing behaviour shifted in the years following the pandemic, with shoppers becoming more deliberate about what they bought and increasingly seeking flexibility in how they paid for purchases.

The business also began receiving requests from customers seeking greater flexibility in how they paid for purchases.

“We were able to identify that people were also asking for an old-school layby system for orders as they wanted greater flexibility to make certain purchases and pay over time,” he says.

Similar patterns are emerging across online retail as consumer expectations continue to evolve. Consumers increasingly expect shopping experiences that are simple, secure and flexible, particularly as household budgets remain under pressure and digital purchasing becomes more deeply embedded in everyday life.

Simon Banks, managing director of PayPal Australia, says simplicity remains one of the strongest drivers of online shopping behaviour.

“Consumers have always wanted probably two things when they shop online,” Banks says. “They want something very simple that has very low friction, and they also want something that’s very safe.”

Trust has become particularly important as consumers discover products and retailers through an expanding range of digital channels. Shoppers are often making purchases from businesses they may not have encountered before, making confidence a critical part of the decision-making process.

The PayPal research found that the presence of familiar payment brands can influence how comfortable consumers feel when shopping online.

Banks says trust can affect whether shoppers ultimately complete a purchase.

“According to research, approximately 74 per cent of Australians will trust a seller if they see the PayPal brand,” he says. “Even if they don’t use PayPal, once they see PayPal on an online seller’s website, they trust that business.”

For businesses, building that confidence is becoming increasingly important because online shoppers are often quick to abandon purchases if the experience does not meet their expectations.

The figures illustrate how closely customer expectations and business outcomes have become linked.

For small businesses and larger retailers alike, attracting a shopper to a website is only part of the challenge. The purchasing journey itself can determine whether a sale is completed or abandoned.

Banks says consumers increasingly expect online shopping to be straightforward from beginning to end.

“Consumers want it quick, they want it easy and they want it safe,” he says.

For retailers and small businesses, that means the purchasing journey itself has become a competitive differentiator rather than a purely operational consideration.

Few shoppers have patience for lengthy checkout processes or unclear payment options. Increasingly, consumers expect to understand how they can pay, how long the process will take and whether they trust the retailer before reaching the final stages of checkout.

The rise of buy now, pay later services offers one indication of how those expectations are changing. Millions of Australians have used these services, while more than a third have said they used one within the past six months.

Banks says consumers increasingly expect flexibility as part of the online shopping experience.

“Consumers also increasingly want flexibility and control over how they pay, particularly in the current economic environment,” he says.

For some shoppers, spreading payments over instalments can make larger purchases more manageable. For others, it simply provides another option when managing household budgets or responding to unexpected expenses.

Gregorace says offering additional payment flexibility was a direct response to customer demand.

“This allows the customer to purchase their item from us as they need it but then also make their payments in four instalments to make the purchase a more manageable experience,” he says.

Since introducing PayPal Pay in 4,* Gregorace says more customers have chosen that payment method over alternatives.

“Since implementing PayPal Pay in 4 on our website, we have personally seen that more customers have used this payment method,” he says.

Payment flexibility is only part of the story. Consumers increasingly expect the entire online shopping journey to be intuitive and free from unnecessary obstacles.

For retailers, that means reducing unnecessary steps wherever possible and ensuring customers can quickly find the information and payment options they need.

“This is a huge point being an ecommerce store,” Gregorace says. “Things need to be easy to use, and less clicks results in more sales as it takes away the complexity and more opportunity for things to go wrong.”

Gregorace says simplifying the purchasing process has resulted in fewer abandoned carts and more completed orders.

For businesses, particularly smaller retailers competing in crowded online markets, understanding those expectations is becoming increasingly important. When shoppers can compare products, prices and payment options in seconds, the experience itself can be the difference between a completed purchase and an abandoned cart.

To find out more, please visit PayPal.

*PayPal Pay in 4 is a continuing credit contract provided by PayPal Credit Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence 568848). Merchant and customer eligibility criteria and terms apply. See paypal.com/au for details. Individual merchant results may vary.