Cart Abandonment (Concern about Order Costs)

What it measures

A three-item scale measuring the tendency to abandon an online shopping cart in response to unexpected additional costs revealed at checkout — specifically shipping charges, sales tax, and the total order amount. Items capture a cost-shock abandonment pattern where the consumer's decision to not purchase is triggered by price information disclosed late in the checkout process rather than by price-based comparison shopping. Part of a four-scale battery examining distinct cart abandonment motivations.

Response format

7-point frequency scale (never / always)

Scale items

• I decide not to buy when I see the shipping charges for my order.
• I decide not to buy when I see the amount of sales tax added.
• I decide not to buy when I see the total amount at the checkout.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Single reliability estimate: α = .91 — Kukar-Kinney & Close (2010, main study). VALIDITY: Convergent and discriminant validity evidence reported. Response scale anchored at 'never' (1) and 'always' (7). Scale was developed and refined across two preliminary studies before main data collection. NOTE: Three actual items; a fourth entry in the original is a scale administration note regarding the response scale format. Part of a four-scale cart behaviour battery alongside Cart Abandonment (Search for Better Price) (CASP), Cart Abandonment Frequency (CARF), and Cart Usage as a Decision Tool (CUDT) — all from the same study.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Kukar-Kinney, Monika and Angeline G. Close (2010). The determinants of consumers' online shopping cart abandonment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(2), 240–250.

Keywords