The latest figures from Listrak reveal that in the past six months an average of 74 per cent of all online shopping carts that are created by consumers are subsequently abandoned before they go through with a purchase.

Plenty of people visit e-commerce sites and do not add anything to their cart, but many also get as far as putting one or two products in place ready for purchase at the checkout, but then give up on their retail journey there and then.

With shopping online rising in popularity, there is more competition amongst companies trying to claim a slice of the sales pie. And so by reducing cart abandonment rates and raising conversions, retailers have a better chance of securing growth.

The Listrak figures are particularly interesting, because they show that during the run-up to Christmas there was a marked dip in the number of people choosing to abandon their carts, presumably because people were essentially shopping to a deadline and could not afford to disappoint their friends and family with their gift buying at this time of year.

This week, however, the cart abandonment rate actually rose above its six month average to 76 per cent, suggesting that the post-Christmas lull is well underway and people are perhaps a little tapped out now that the festive season has finally come to an end.

There are various ways that e-commerce sites can appeal to consumers and make people more likely to carry out safe shopping online rather than heading elsewhere. Site users like to see pages that load quickly and have easy to understand interfaces, as well as clear delivery options and no hidden fees that could come back to bite them, which should give retailers the incentive to improve in 2015.