How to reduce checkout abandonment with localised payment methods

Seven out of every ten shoppers who add something to an online cart never complete the purchase. That statistic, drawn from Baymard Institute's aggregated analysis of 50 studies, barely changes year on year. In Asia-Pacific specifically, the problem is sharper: abandonment in the region sits at roughly 87%, compared to around 72-73% in Europe and the Americas.

For merchants expanding into new markets, the payment step is where a disproportionate amount of abandonment happens. According to a 2026 PPRO report, up to 25% of shoppers will leave a checkout immediately if their preferred payment method isn't available. Research cited by PYMNTS found that APAC merchants who don't offer localised payment methods lose 32% more sales to abandonment than those who do.

This isn't about convenience. It's about trust, eligibility, and friction — three things that localised payments fix at once. 

The most effective way to reduce checkout abandonment in Asia-Pacific is to offer localised payment methods at checkout. Up to 25% of shoppers leave immediately if their preferred payment method isn't available, and APAC merchants without localised payments lose 32% more sales to abandonment than those who do.

Localised payments fix three problems at once: eligibility (shoppers without cards can pay), trust (familiar payment logos signal credibility), and friction (fewer steps than international card flows). Digital wallets account for over 60% of APAC e-commerce transactions, but preference varies by market — GCash in the Philippines, PayNow in Singapore, DuitNow in Malaysia, PromptPay in Thailand, MoMo in Vietnam, and Alipay in Greater China.

The solution isn't building separate integrations for each market. A unified payment platform like Antom's Checkout Payment provides access to 300+ payment methods across 200+ markets through a single integration, covering the dominant local rails in each market without separate contracts, reconciliation, or compliance obligations. 

What is cart abandonment?

Cart abandonment occurs when a shopper adds one or more items to an online shopping cart but decides not to complete the purchase. This behavior is a natural outcome of the online consumer shopping experience — it's easier to abandon a full cart when it's only an icon on a screen, rather than in a physical store.

Cart vs Checkout Abandonment: What's the Difference?

While often used interchangeably, cart abandonment and checkout abandonment refer to slightly different stages of the purchase funnel:

Cart abandonment occurs when a shopper adds items to their shopping cart but leaves before reaching the checkout page. This typically happens earlier in the journey — often triggered by browsing behavior, price comparison, or hesitation about the purchase itself.

Checkout abandonment occurs when a shopper has already reached the checkout page (entered shipping details, selected delivery options) but leaves before completing payment. This is where payment method availability becomes critical — shoppers have already committed to buying but can't complete the transaction.

Why does this distinction matter? Cart abandonment is often driven by factors like unexpected costs (48% of global abandonments, Baymard 2025), slow delivery estimates, or forced account creation. Checkout abandonment is more frequently driven by payment friction — missing preferred payment methods, declined cards, or complex payment flows.

For APAC merchants, checkout abandonment is the more addressable problem. You can't stop shoppers from price-comparing, but you can ensure that when they're ready to pay, your checkout accepts the payment method they actually use. 

How to calculate the cart abandonment rate

A simple way to compute your cart abandonment rate is to divide the total number of successful purchases by the total number of shopping carts created over the same period of time. Afterwards, subtract that figure from 1 and multiply it by 100.

Let's say you had 90 successful purchases out of 300 carts created. The computation would be as follows:

• 90 ÷ 300 = 0.3
• 1 − 0.3 = 0.7
• 0.7 × 100 = 70

This means your cart abandonment rate is 70%. As the data above shows, this is on par with the average for the US, but is significantly lower than the APAC abandonment rate.

Common causes of cart abandonment in Asia Pacific

When people abandon their carts, chances are the culprit lies somewhere in your checkout process. Check your web analytics data to identify where the abandonment typically occurs within the checkout flow.

For instance, do most consumers abandon their cart when they see the shipping fee, when they get to the payment step, or when you require them to create an account instead of letting them check out as a guest? Try tweaking one part of the checkout process at a time and observe how abandonment rates change.

Here are some factors that typically cause cart abandonment among shoppers in Asia Pacific:

1. Shipping costs and unexpected fees: Higher-than-expected delivery charges and other fees at checkout are the top reason for cart abandonment for shoppers worldwide. Unexpected and steep fees right before checkout led 55% of shoppers to abandon carts in 2023.
2. Slow delivery times: Shoppers from APAC countries are the most frequent cross-border shoppers, with 20% of Chinese and 23% of Thai shoppers buying goods from another country at least once a day. However, seeing long delivery periods can deter them from completing a purchase.
3. Poor design: With 78% of APAC consumers using smartphones to shop, mobile-responsive websites and apps are vital. Slow, laggy platforms that aren't mobile-friendly lead to abandoned carts.
4. Data privacy concerns: APAC customers have strong concerns regarding data security. This unease not only affects initial willingness to shop, but can also contribute to higher cart abandonment rates as shoppers weigh the risks associated with sharing personal information against completing their transactions.
5. Lack of local payment options: Shoppers in APAC have diverse payment preferences beyond traditional credit cards. When they don't see their preferred payment method, 44% of shoppers will abandon their cart.

How Localised Payment Methods Reduce Checkout Abandonment

Adding localised payment methods to your checkout addresses the abandonment problem on four levels:

1. Eligibility: Expand your addressable pool

In many APAC markets, credit card penetration is low and consumer behavior skipped the card era almost entirely. According to EBANX, credit cards represent under 5% of e-commerce transactions in Indonesia. Digital wallets account for 42% of the country's e-commerce value.

When a checkout page shows only a card form to these shoppers, it isn't just inconvenient — it's a dead end. Many simply don't have a card to use. Offering local payment methods means shoppers who would otherwise be ineligible can now complete the transaction. You've expanded your addressable pool simply by showing up with the right options. 

2. Trust: Familiar payment logos as credibility signals

Data privacy concerns are particularly pronounced in APAC. Shoppers may hesitate to enter card details on an unfamiliar foreign site, especially one without recognisable trust signals.

Familiar payment logos at checkout act as instant credibility markers. Seeing GCash, Alipay, PayNow, or Touch 'n Go on a checkout page carries similar psychological weight to a padlock icon — it signals that this merchant understands the local market and has been vetted by a trusted ecosystem. This is especially important for cross-border merchants selling into APAC from the US, UK, or Canada.

3. Friction: Fewer steps, lower drop-off

Local payment rails often require fewer steps than international card flows. A QR-based wallet payment on mobile takes seconds. A redirect to an internet banking portal that a shopper uses every day feels natural rather than risky. Reducing steps reduces drop-off.

The Baymard Institute estimates that a well-designed checkout, including diverse payment options, can improve large e-commerce site conversion rates by up to 35%. For APAC shoppers specifically, the impact is often higher because the alternative (international card payment) involves additional friction like 3D Secure authentication, currency conversion uncertainty, and potential foreign transaction fees.

4. Offer local payment methods

The inclusion of localised payments is proving to be perhaps the single-largest determinant between success and failure for Western businesses looking to expand in the East. Merchants that do not provide APAC shoppers with localised payments stand to lose 32% more of their sales to cart abandonment compared to those who do.

Above: E-commerce payment preferences across Southeast Asia, Korea and Japan (Source: IDC Infobrief sponsored by 2C2P and Ant Group, How Asia Buys and Pays 2023: Tapping into Asia's Regional Commerce Opportunities, IDC #AP241443IB, Published October 2023)

To increase the likelihood of APAC shoppers completing their purchase, offer the payment methods that shoppers in your target market prefer. The chart above, for instance, shows the diversity of payment methods preferred by online shoppers in Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan. These include digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offers, bank transfers, and other local payment methods.

Beyond payment methods: Other barriers to address

Localised payments alone won't fix every abandonment problem. These factors compound the issue and are worth addressing in parallel:

Unexpected costs

Hidden fees at checkout — shipping charges appearing only at the final step, taxes added late, currency conversion markups — cause 39-55% of global abandonment according to Mastercard Dynamic Yield benchmarks. Baymard 2025 found 48% abandon over unexpected costs.

Action: Show shipping costs and taxes on product pages or at cart stage, not just at checkout.

Mobile experience

Over 78% of APAC consumers shop on mobile. A checkout that works well on desktop but breaks on a small screen is giving away conversions. Mobile cart abandonment globally sits at around 77-80%, roughly 12 percentage points higher than desktop (66%), according to Baymard and Digital Applied analyses.

Action: Test checkout flow on actual mobile devices (not just desktop responsive preview). Prioritise Core Web Vitals for mobile page speed.

Forced account creation

Around 24% of shoppers abandon when required to register before buying, per Tidio's research. Guest checkout isn't optional in markets where consumers have low brand loyalty and high price sensitivity.

Action: Offer guest checkout with optional account creation post-purchase ("Create an account to track your order").

Security signals

Data privacy concerns are particularly pronounced in APAC. SSL certificates, recognisable payment logos, and clear privacy messaging all contribute to a shopper deciding to proceed.

Action: Display SSL badges, payment method logos, and privacy policy links prominently at checkout. Consider trust badges specific to each market (e.g., local consumer protection certifications).

Quick Answers to Common Questions

What's the difference between cart abandonment and checkout abandonment?

Cart abandonment happens when shoppers add items but leave before reaching checkout. Checkout abandonment happens when shoppers reach the payment page but leave before completing the transaction. Payment method availability primarily affects checkout abandonment.

Which payment methods should I offer for APAC customers?

It depends on the market. Digital wallets dominate across APAC but vary by country: GCash (Philippines), PayNow (Singapore), DuitNow (Malaysia), PromptPay (Thailand), MoMo (Vietnam), GoPay/OVO (Indonesia), Alipay (Greater China). A unified payment platform covering 250+ methods is more practical than market-by-market integrations.

How much does checkout abandonment cost APAC merchants?

APAC has the world's highest abandonment rate at ~87%, compared to 72-73% in the Americas and EMEA. Merchants without localised payment methods lose 32% more sales to abandonment than those who offer preferred local methods (IDC "How Asia Buys and Pays 2023").

What's the fastest way to reduce checkout abandonment?

Adding localised payment methods is the highest-impact single change for APAC markets. Up to 25% of shoppers leave immediately if their preferred method isn't available (PPRO 2026). Secondary fixes include showing costs earlier, enabling guest checkout, and optimising mobile page speed.

Do I need separate integrations for each payment method?

No. A unified payment platform like Antom's Checkout Payment provides access to 300+ payment methods across 200+ markets through a single integration. This covers digital wallets, online banking, cards, BNPL, and national gateways without separate contracts, reconciliation, or compliance obligations.

Expand your business to Asia Pacific with Antom

This is where a unified payment platform earns its keep. Antom's Checkout Payment solution provides access to 300+ payment methods across 200+ markets through a single integration, covering digital wallets, online banking, cards, BNPL, and national gateways. That includes the dominant local methods across Southeast Asia, Greater China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, the US, and EU markets.

For merchants who want to optimise beyond just method availability, Antom's Revenue Booster toolkit addresses transaction success rates after the payment attempt is made, tackling soft declines, routing logic, and retry strategies that affect authorisation rates across card and wallet transactions.

For businesses managing payments across multiple PSPs or geographies, Antom Payment Orchestration consolidates everything into a single management layer, routing transactions intelligently to maximise approval rates and minimise cost.

Risk management sits alongside all of this. A checkout that's too aggressive with fraud screening declines legitimate customers and creates its own abandonment problem. Antom Shield uses real-time machine learning and graph computing to score every transaction, balancing fraud prevention against conversion — a genuinely difficult trade-off that blunt rule-based systems routinely get wrong.

If you're ready to grow your revenue in the Asia Pacific region, reach out to our payment experts today.