A new white paper from web security specialist McAfee examines in detail the reasons why shoppers abandon shopping carts and the actions they then take following a shopping cart abandonment.

McAfee analysed more than 100 million ecommerce visits during the research for the white paper and found that purchase delays are quite common and much longer than had been expected.

‘Digital Window Shopping: The Long Journey to Buy’ found that, on average, there is a delay of 33 hours and 54 minutes between a consumer’s first visit and the time that they actually make a purchase.

“In an e-tail world brimming with choice and fraught with security perils like identity theft, consumers are taking their time before making that final click to buy,” says Craig Parrish, director of McAfee Secure Service. “Retailers ignore this trend at their own peril. Our new study explains why and what to do about it.”

Readers can download a copy of the full report free of charge from McAfee’s website.

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