Commitment-shy shoppers abandon almost £125 BILLION worth of items in their online baskets each year

A study of 2,000 adults found the average online shopper will put clothes and gadgets worth £4,283 a year into their baskets, but don’t get around to hitting ‘confirm’.
This fantasy check-out total includes £480 worth of clothing, £571 of home accessories and £500 of health and beauty items.
A further £554 is abandoned by individuals when food shopping each year and £586 when browsing for technology.
Causes of abandoned baskets include being put off by the cost of postage and packaging (26 per cent), wanting to research and compare prices on other websites (20 per cent) and finding there were too many steps in the check-out process (11 per cent).
The least loyal shoppers were found to be those browsing for clothes (22 per cent), while shoes (10 per cent) and books (10 per cent) also regularly end up on the shopping scrap heap.
It also emerged one in five adults have noticed an increase in suspicious looking websites.
And more than one in 20 abandoned a purchase after being asked to approve a transaction in their banking app which seemed dubious.
Nationwide Building Society carried out the research to highlight the new Strong Customer Authentication check – where customers need to verify it’s them making the transaction by inputting a one-time passcode or by authenticating the payment within their banking app.
Spokesman Matt Cox said: “The results show we’re a nation of online shopping fans, yet often get carried away with ‘fantasy’ baskets and end up abandoning lots of items.
“The numbers put into perspective just how much is left behind by indecisive shoppers.
“But brands do have a clever way of drawing people back in to complete a purchase, whether with an offer, a reminder email or targeting them with social media adverts.
“While the nation loves online shopping, so do the fraudsters, which is why this new