online retailers see better numbers but more abandon carts

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={ADDFFD73-616F-43D4-906B-EB00D4804B05}&siteid=mktw&dist=nbkThe online advertising and technology company reports a 14 percent annual rise in so-called conversion rates -- that is, the proportion of online browsers who turn into buyers.
More importantly, shoppers are buying more per purchase. Order sizes increased 15 percent over the past year, to an average transaction of $134.01.
But there's a dark side to these trends. Abandoned online shopping carts rose 24 percent over the past year. Today, roughly half of Web shopping baskets never make it to checkout.
Furthermore, consumers are less likely to come back and complete the transactions; during the second quarter of 2004, 26.5 percent of online sales were of "previously carted items," down from 35.6 percent a year before.
"Consumers are looking at more pages, carting more products and converting more often -- so the opportunity is there," says Eric Kirby, vice president of strategic services at DoubleClick (DCLK: news, chart, profile). "Now, it's up to marketers to not only make the shopping experience as engaging as possible but also to introduce new strategies such as remarketing to lost prospects."