Full carts, few sales: what online retail can still learn about cart abandonment

Full carts, few sales. In e-commerce, this is a reality that still keeps many people up at night. The scene is familiar: the customer selects, compares, adds the product to the cart… and disappears. According to E-commerce Radar, over 80% of purchases initiated online are not completed. A number that speaks for itself and reveals one of the biggest bottlenecks in digital retail: checkout abandonment, the infamous “cart abandonment”.

For a long time, the market treated this behavior as something inevitable. But when the abandonment rate reaches four out of every five purchases, it becomes clear that the problem is not the consumer, but the experience. Unexpected additional costs, uncompetitive delivery times, and lengthy or confusing payment processes are among the main reasons for abandonment. And this is not just a lost sale; it's a lost relationship.

In recent years, however, I have seen a shift. More and more companies are understanding that recovering a sale is not about insisting, but about conversing. And WhatsApp has become the most powerful channel for this.

We have witnessed remarkable cases with Dispara Aí, our conversational automation and marketing platform. One e-commerce client, for example, achieved a 27% conversion rate in just four weeks after implementing intelligent WhatsApp service flows. Another client, who tested the tool in a seasonal campaign, recorded a 32% increase in recovered sales.
But the most interesting part is what comes next, as companies not only sell more but also start to better understand customer behavior, optimize processes, and gain predictability.

The secret lies in speed and personalization. In e-commerce, every second counts. A hot lead that is not responded to immediately cools down and goes to the competition. With automated flows and intelligent triggers, we can respond at the right moment, nurture interest, and accelerate purchase completion, even with lean teams.

I see automated WhatsApp flows as the new digital counter of retail. They welcome customers, send cart reminders, trigger offers at the exact right time, and personalize messages according to each consumer's profile and behavior. Automation allows for scaling without losing the human touch—and that, ultimately, is what makes the difference.

Today, Dispara Aí processes over 16 million messages per month, is present in 15 countries, and has 650,000 users. Behind these numbers lies a cultural shift: we are learning that responding quickly is important, but responding with purpose is what converts.

And as we approach dates like Black Friday and the end-of-year holidays, this learning becomes strategic. After all, a full cart does not guarantee a sale, but a good conversation can turn interest into revenue.

In the end, e-commerce is not about clicks. It's about connection. And when this connection happens on the right channel, with the right message, the distance between a full cart and a completed order becomes much shorter.

By Cesar Baleco, CEO of IRRAH TECH