In the world of e-commerce, there is an almost obsessive focus on attracting visitors. Heavy investments are made in ads, social media, and search optimization. However, when the customer reaches the decisive moment of purchase, many e-commerces fail at the basics: offering a simple, smooth, and reliable payment experience. The result is abandoned carts, lost sales, and customers who rarely return.
Research indicates that more than 60% of online purchases in Brazil do not reach completion, and the checkout is one of the main culprits. Brand perception is not formed only at the initial banner or in the digital showcase; it is solidified at the time of payment. Long forms, confusing redirects, and limited payment options convey insecurity and break the flow of the purchase.
Today’s digital consumer is impatient. They are accustomed to the agility of leading market platforms and expect any store to offer the same speed and clarity. The advancement of instant methods, such as Pix, has further raised this expectation. It’s not just about accepting new forms of payment but integrating them intelligently, without friction and tailored to the profile of the buyer.
In practice, the checkout is a hidden salesperson. It can close the sale smoothly and persuasively or scare off the customer with a poor experience. Small changes like reducing the number of clicks, avoiding redirects, optimizing fill-in fields, and clearly displaying payment options can lead to significant increases in conversion rates, without needing to spend more on traffic acquisition.
Brazilian e-commerce is entering a phase where tight margins and rising media costs demand efficiency at all stages of the funnel. Ignoring the checkout as a strategic part of the sale is wasting one of the most powerful points of persuasion that the retailer has at their disposal. Those who turn this stage into a moment of trust and convenience will not only sell more but will also create returning customers who recommend.
By analyzing purchasing behavior across thousands of online transactions, it is evident that the checkout is a critical point in the customer’s decision. On average, more than six out of ten initiated carts in Brazil are abandoned before completion, and it’s not uncommon to see stores lose up to a third of sales due to long forms, confusing redirects, or lack of suitable payment methods. In operations where the checkout has been simplified, reducing clicks and integrating options like Pix and saved cards, the conversion rate increased by up to 20% without having to invest an additional real in traffic acquisition.
Another striking figure is the impact of payment retry technologies and intelligent anti-fraud solutions: in some cases, merely adjusting these steps caused the approval rate to jump from 78% to over 90%, which, over the course of a month, represents tens or hundreds of thousands of reais that would otherwise go unbilled. The average time to complete a purchase also proves to be crucial: transactions that exceed 90 seconds at checkout have significantly more abandonments, especially on mobile, where consumer patience is even lower.
These numbers show that it is not enough to bring visitors to the store. It is at the payment moment that the success of the operation is decided. Small improvements at this stage, based on real behavior and performance data, can have a greater financial impact than entire marketing campaigns. And that is why the checkout should be treated not as a technical obligation but as a strategic asset to attract, convert, and retain customers.
*Alan Ribeiro, Marketing Director of Único Pag. An expert in e-commerce and consumer experience, he has spent over a decade analyzing digital strategies and tracking online retail trends. He is dedicated to studying how technology, purchasing behavior, and operational efficiency can transform results and build customer loyalty in the virtual environment.
