The checkout stage represents the most critical juncture in any ecommerce transaction. After successfully guiding potential customers through product discovery, consideration, and cart addition, merchants face a sobering reality: the average checkout abandonment rate across ecommerce sits at 70.22%¹. Only 3 out of every 10 shoppers who begin checkout actually complete their purchase.

This report examines checkout conversion rates and abandonment patterns across the DTC ecommerce landscape. Our research team analyzed checkout performance data from Q4 2025 through Q1 2026, encompassing over 2.8 million checkout sessions across 150+ direct-to-consumer brands processing between $500K and $50MM annually. The data that follows provides actionable benchmarks for evaluating your checkout performance and identifying optimization opportunities.

Checkout Conversion Rates by Industry — 2026

Understanding how your checkout performs relative to industry standards is essential for identifying improvement opportunities. The table below presents average checkout conversion rates—calculated as completed purchases divided by checkout initiations—across key DTC verticals.

Industry	Checkout Conversion Rate	Cart Abandonment Rate	Average Session-to-Purchase CVR
Fashion & Apparel	41.2%	73.9%	1.8%
Health & Beauty	48.7%	68.3%	6.5%
Food & Beverage	52.1%	65.4%	6.2%
Home & Garden	38.9%	75.6%	1.7%
Electronics	43.8%	71.2%	3.4%
Pet Care & Supplies	51.3%	66.8%	4.9%

Key Research Insights:

1. Health & Beauty and Food & Beverage brands demonstrate the highest checkout conversion rates at 48.7% and 52.1% respectively². Lower average order values and higher purchase frequency reduce buyer hesitation at checkout. 
2. Home & Garden products face the steepest checkout challenges with only 38.9% of shoppers who initiate checkout completing their purchase. Higher price points ($250+ average order values) require additional consideration time. 
3. The gap between cart abandonment and checkout abandonment reveals critical friction: even when shoppers add items to cart, an average of 29.8% never reach the checkout page. This indicates friction in the cart-to-checkout transition itself. 

Checkout Abandonment Factors — 2026

Beyond overall abandonment rates, understanding why customers leave during checkout is essential for targeted optimization. Our survey of 1,200 online shoppers who abandoned checkout in Q1 2026 identified the following primary factors:

Abandonment Reason	% of Respondents	Device More Affected
Unexpected costs (shipping, fees, taxes)	47.3%	Equal impact
Required account creation	28.1%	Mobile (33% higher)
Too many form fields / complicated process	26.9%	Mobile (41% higher)
Payment security concerns	22.4%	Desktop (slight edge)
Slow page load times	19.7%	Mobile (2.3x higher)
Limited payment options	17.8%	Equal impact
Unclear return policy	15.2%	Desktop (slight edge)
Website errors / technical issues	14.6%	Mobile (1.8x higher)

Key Research Insights:

1. Cost transparency remains the dominant abandonment driver. Nearly half of checkout abandoners cite unexpected costs as their primary reason for leaving¹. The fix? Display total costs—including shipping and taxes—before the checkout page, not during it. 
2. Mobile checkout friction is substantially higher across multiple factors. Required account creation, form complexity, and page speed issues all disproportionately impact mobile users, who represent 76% of ecommerce traffic but convert at only 1.8%³. 
3. Payment flexibility directly impacts completion rates. Brands offering 4+ payment methods (including digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and alternative checkout solutions) see 23% higher checkout conversion than those offering only credit card and PayPal⁴. 

Checkout Conversion Rate by Device Type — 2026

Device performance reveals significant optimization opportunities. Mobile traffic dominates ecommerce but significantly underperforms in conversion metrics.

Device	% of Checkout Traffic	Checkout Conversion Rate	Session-to-Purchase CVR	Avg. Form Completion Time
Mobile	76.4%	36.2%	1.8%	4.2 minutes
Desktop	21.8%	54.7%	3.9%	2.8 minutes
Tablet	1.8%	48.1%	3.2%	3.1 minutes

Key Research Insights:

1. Desktop shoppers convert at 51% higher rates during checkout (54.7% vs 36.2%) despite representing only 21.8% of traffic. Mobile optimization represents the single largest conversion opportunity for most DTC brands³. 
2. Mobile form completion times are 50% longer than desktop (4.2 minutes vs 2.8 minutes). Mobile checkout UX—including form field optimization, auto-fill capabilities, and tap-target sizing—requires dedicated attention. 
3. The mobile-desktop conversion gap is costing you real money. Across our sample size, this performance disparity translates to an estimated $2.7 billion in lost annual revenue. Your mobile checkout is probably costing you more than your entire tech stack. 

Checkout Field Optimization Impact — 2026

The number and type of form fields directly correlates with checkout completion rates. We examined checkout flows ranging from 6 to 18+ required fields.

Number of Checkout Fields	Checkout Conversion Rate	Average Completion Time	Mobile Abandonment Rate
6-8 fields (streamlined)	51.8%	2.1 minutes	44.3%
9-12 fields (standard)	44.2%	3.4 minutes	56.9%
13-15 fields (extended)	38.7%	4.8 minutes	65.2%
16+ fields (extensive)	29.1%	6.3 minutes	74.8%

Methodology Note: Field counts include all required input fields during checkout, including email, shipping address (5-6 fields), payment information (3-4 fields), and any additional required selections. Optional fields were excluded from totals.

Key Research Insight: Reducing checkout from the industry standard 12 fields to an optimized 6-8 field experience can improve conversion rates by up to 17.2%¹. The impact is most pronounced on mobile devices where form completion friction is highest. For technical teams: every field you remove reduces both user cognitive load and the surface area for input errors.

Guest Checkout vs. Account-Required Checkout Performance — 2026

Account creation requirements remain one of the most contentious checkout design decisions. The performance implications are significant.

Checkout Type	Overall Conversion Rate	Mobile Conversion	Desktop Conversion	New Customer CVR	Returning Customer CVR
Guest Checkout Enabled	46.8%	41.2%	58.3%	43.7%	51.9%
Account Required	32.1%	24.6%	44.8%	27.3%	48.2%
Difference	+45.8%	+67.5%	+30.1%	+60.1%	+7.7%

Key Research Insights:

1. Guest checkout delivers a 45.8% improvement in overall checkout conversion rates¹. The impact is most pronounced for new customers (+60.1%) and mobile users (+67.5%)—both groups face the highest friction from mandatory account creation. 
2. The returning customer gap is minimal (+7.7%). Account creation hurdles primarily impact first-time purchasers who haven’t yet established trust with the brand. 
3. Progressive account creation strategies work. Offering post-purchase account setup rather than requiring it during checkout captures the benefits of both approaches—maintaining the 46.8% conversion rate while building customer databases for retention marketing. 

Express Checkout Adoption & Performance — 2026

One-click payment options through digital wallets have become table stakes for competitive checkout experiences⁴. Our data examines adoption and performance across major express checkout options.

Express Checkout Method	Adoption Rate	Conversion Rate	Avg. Transaction Value	Completion Time
Shop Pay	31.4%	68.2%	$87.30	42 seconds
Apple Pay	28.7%	71.4%	$94.20	38 seconds
Google Pay	19.2%	66.8%	$82.10	45 seconds
PayPal Express	34.1%	63.7%	$79.40	51 seconds
Standard Checkout	—	41.3%	$91.80	3.2 minutes

Note: Adoption rate represents the percentage of eligible sessions (where the payment method is available to the user) that utilize each express option. Conversion rates reflect completion rates once the express method is selected. Platform-locked solutions (like Shop Pay for Shopify-only stores) limit which brands can offer these options—custom implementations provide more flexibility for non-Shopify platforms.

Key Research Insight: Express checkout methods convert at 54-73% higher rates than standard checkout (63.7%-71.4% vs 41.3%), with completion times reduced by 97-98%⁴. The data supports implementing multiple express options, as customer preference varies by ecosystem. iOS users gravitate toward Apple Pay, Android users favor Google Pay.

The Cost of Checkout Abandonment — 2026

Quantifying the revenue impact helps prioritize optimization investments. Based on our sample of DTC brands processing between $500K-$50MM annually:

Annual Revenue Range	Avg. Checkout Initiations	Current Abandonment Rate	Annual Lost Revenue	Potential Revenue Recovery
$500K – $2MM	8,200	64.2%	$189,000	$66,000 (35% recovery)
$2MM – $10MM	38,500	61.8%	$872,000	$305,000 (35% recovery)
$10MM – $25MM	124,000	58.3%	$3.2M	$1.1M (35% recovery)
$25MM – $50MM	278,000	54.7%	$7.4M	$2.6M (35% recovery)

Methodology: Potential revenue recovery assumes implementing best-practice checkout optimization (guest checkout, express payments, field reduction, mobile optimization) can achieve a 35% reduction in abandonment—a conservative estimate based on documented case studies within our merchant network.

“Even a 10-point improvement in checkout conversion can mean hundreds of thousands in recovered revenue for mid-market DTC brands.”

Checkout Conversion Rate Trends (2020-2026)

Examining checkout performance over time reveals evolving consumer expectations and the impact of technological improvements. Here’s how things changed from 2020 through Q1 2026:

Year	Average Checkout Conversion Rate	Cart Abandonment Rate
2020	37.2%	72.1%
2021	38.9%	71.7%
2022	41.3%	71.2%
2023	43.1%	69.8%
2024	44.8%	68.9%
2025	46.2%	67.3%
2026 (Q1)	47.1%	66.4%

Key Insight: The steady improvement in checkout conversion rates (+26.6% over six years) correlates directly with widespread adoption of express checkout options⁴ and mobile-optimized checkout flows³. In 2020, only 12% of transactions used express checkout. By 2026, that number hit 41%.

However, the rate of improvement has slowed from 4.6% year-over-year (2020-2021) to 1.9% (2025-2026). This suggests diminishing returns from incremental optimizations. The brands that will win in 2026+ need to fundamentally reimagine their checkout experience, not just tweak existing flows.

Get Your Free Checkout Audit

Want to know where your checkout stands against these benchmarks?

Krepling Pay offers free checkout audits that identify hidden friction points costing you conversions. We’ll analyze your current checkout flow and show you exactly where shoppers are dropping off—and what you can do about it.

Our optimized checkout solution features:

• Streamlined 6-field guest checkout (no account creation required)
• Built-in express payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more)
• Fully white-labeled to match your brand
• Platform-agnostic integration (works with any tech stack, not just Shopify)
• Flat-fee pricing with no hidden processing costs

Request your free checkout audit

Or if you’d like to request a PDF copy of this full benchmark report, reach out through the same link above.