Checkout friction is still the single biggest conversion killer in European retail
A benchmark study covering actual shopping transactions across five European countries, including the Netherlands, has produced a number that every online merchant should pin to their wall: 51% of shoppers identify checkout as the primary area retailers need to fix. Not product discovery, not pricing, not delivery. Checkout.
The data from Manhattan Associates and Incisiv goes further. Some 35% of shoppers abandon their cart because the checkout process feels too long, and 30% leave when faced with multiple steps and lengthy forms. These are not edge cases. They are structural conversion leaks that compound across every campaign, every traffic spike, and every seasonal peak.
For Dutch and Belgian merchants, this research lands with particular weight. The Netherlands is one of the five countries included in the benchmark, meaning the findings reflect actual purchase behaviour in this market. With iDEAL transitions, the rise of one-click payment methods, and strong consumer expectations shaped by players like bol.com, Dutch shoppers have little patience for bloated checkout flows. Every redundant field, every unnecessary step, and every page reload is a measurable risk.
The personalisation gap flagged in the study is equally telling. Some 58% of respondents said retailers only personalise marketing messages, not the actual customer experience. In checkout terms, this means showing a generic form to a returning customer who has already stored their address and payment credentials. Leveraging stored credentials, surfacing the preferred payment method first, and pre-filling known data are straightforward wins that most merchants are still leaving on the table.
The implication is direct: audit your checkout flow against these three failure points. Count your steps, measure your form fields, and test whether returning customers experience a meaningfully faster path than first-time buyers. The benchmark has just told you where the money is being lost.
Source: retailx.net
