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Website with a shopping cart: what you need beyond the buy now button
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Anyone searching "website with a shopping cart: what you need beyond the buy now button" usually already has a platform handling catalog, cart and payment, and is wondering what's missing because sales aren't coming in as hoped. The honest answer starts with a number that surprises anyone who hasn't seen it before: most carts, on any e-commerce site, empty out before reaching payment. The point isn't eliminating abandonment, which can't be eliminated, but understanding which of the documented reasons come from choices that can actually be fixed.
Cart abandonment is the rule, not the exception
The Baymard Institute, which has been collecting and aggregating independent studies on cart abandonment since 2006, currently states an average documented rate of 70.22%, calculated across 50 different studies published between 2006 and 2025 (page last updated September 22, 2025, checked October 1, 2026). It's worth being precise about what this number actually is: it isn't Baymard's own original research, it's an average of third-party data collected over time, so it should be read as an industry-wide order of magnitude, not a figure that applies identically to every single shop. It remains the most cited reference anyway, because nothing else aggregates this many different studies in one place.
The reason this number matters to anyone selling online, rather than to someone researching e-commerce for its own sake, is simple: an abandoned cart is almost never a whim without a cause. It's almost always the consequence of something specific that did, or didn't, happen during checkout.
The total cost needs to be clear before payment
In the same survey, Baymard reports that 40% of people who abandon do so because extra costs (shipping, taxes, fees) turned out too high once they appeared, and another 12% because they couldn't see or calculate the total order cost before reaching payment. This isn't a matter of taste: it's exactly what Italian law requires too. Article 49, paragraph 1, letter e) of the Consumer Code requires showing the total price, including taxes and all additional shipping, delivery or postal costs, before the consumer submits the order; when those costs can't be calculated in advance, the customer must still be told they'll be charged later. Paragraph 6 of the same article adds a concrete consequence: if this obligation isn't met, the consumer doesn't have to pay the undisclosed costs.
Showing the total only on the last screen, after the customer has already entered their address and payment details, produces exactly the effect Baymard's data describes: a surprise at the worst possible moment to deliver one. Anyone who wants to understand how much fees and shipping actually weigh on their own margin will find the full breakdown in how much does an e-commerce cost, and anyone weighing whether faster delivery justifies a higher cost will find it in website with fast shipping: how much it affects the purchase decision.
Letting customers buy without forcing registration
Here the data needs careful reading, because Baymard publishes two distinct figures that should be cited separately, not merged into one. In its general list of abandonment causes, 18% say they abandoned because the site asked them to create an account. In a targeted survey of 4,384 US adults conducted in 2022 (page published January 17, 2023), 24% had abandoned at least one cart in the past three months solely because of forced account creation. The same page states that 47% of the sites analyzed don't make guest checkout the most prominent option in checkout, even when it exists: on this specific figure Baymard doesn't publish how many sites or what methodology, so I'm reporting it as an order of magnitude the source states, not a figure verifiable in every detail.
The practical point is that forcing registration before purchase adds an extra step exactly at the moment the customer has already decided what they want, which is precisely when an avoidable step weighs the most. An account still has value for tracking future orders, but it's worth offering it as an option after the purchase, not as a condition before it.
The button needs to say payment is happening, not leave it to guesswork
There's a specific legal requirement on the button itself, too. Article 51, paragraph 2 of the Consumer Code states that, when submitting the order creates an obligation to pay, the button used to submit it must read only "ordine con obbligo di pagare" (order with obligation to pay) or an equally clear equivalent wording, not an ambiguous label like "continue" or "confirm" that doesn't signal money is about to be spent. The same rule carries a sharp consequence for anyone who doesn't follow it: the consumer isn't bound by the contract or the order, meaning the purchase isn't legally valid regardless of what happens next on the business side.
Who's behind the site needs to be visible
The last reason weighing on abandonment, 19% according to Baymard, is not trusting that specific site with card details. This is where another legal requirement comes in, built for exactly this purpose: article 7 of legislative decree 70/2003 on electronic commerce requires making easily, directly and permanently accessible some pieces of information, including the merchant's name and registered address, a quick contact with an email address, the business registration number and the VAT number. It isn't an exhaustive list, the article sets out a few more depending on the type of business, but it's the core a customer looks for before deciding whether to trust a site. It applies to any online seller, including a sole proprietorship or a freelancer: the decree exempts no one based on business size.
On the payment side itself, offering a recognizable method, a card, PayPal or a wallet the customer already uses elsewhere, outweighs any written reassurance: the comparison between providers and their fees is in the same how much does an e-commerce cost article cited above. A reviews section, placed in the right spot, works in the same direction too: I cover that in website with company reviews: where to put them and why.
The guarantee
Thirty days to change your mind.
In more than ten years I have never had a client unhappy with the work delivered. That is why I can afford to say this: you have 30 days from accepting the quote to stop, or until the shop goes live if that comes first. Within that window I refund everything you have paid and we part ways, with no further claim and no argument. There are no conditions to meet and nothing to prove: you decide.
You get me, within one working day.
No switchboard, no support form. If you write or call and I do not answer within one working day, you do not pay that month.
I take the risk at the start. It is the only way I have to say “trust me” and have it mean something.
Where to start
None of these five points requires rebuilding the site: a visible total cost before payment, the option to buy without forced registration, a button that clearly states payment is happening, easy-to-find seller information, a payment method the customer recognizes. These are targeted fixes, and on most platforms they can be made without touching the rest of the shop. If you want to understand which of these points is already holding back your sales, get in touch and let's look at your checkout together.