New research reveals that online retailers could be losing millions of pounds worth of sales from customers who click away from a basket and abandon their purchases.

The study, from enterprise workforce optimisation provider, Aspect Software, found that more than half (52%) of retailers questioned claimed that they did not act on abandoned baskets with 12% saying that they had no plans to introduce a recuperation strategy.

Despite an overwhelming number of retailers (99%) agreeing that recouping abandoned baskets on online stores would increase their sales, just over a third (37%) are currently employing the use of technology in the contact centre to do so, such as sending a personalised email to the customer.

On average, retailers claimed that sales increased by, or expected them to increase by, 13% a year. And of those that have an abandoned basket recuperation strategy or are planning/considering it, 81% follow up/plan to follow up with customers within 24 hours.

Mobile applications and text messages were found to be popular ways of reaching potential customers, with 27% of respondents currently using one or both of these tools. By the end of 2014, nearly half (46%) of retailers are expected to use mobile apps to engage with shoppers.

Richard Piatkowski, Head of Retail Accounts at Aspect said, “There are UK retailers using customer engagement technology in some pretty clever ways. In the past, I think it’s fair to say that retailers weren’t great at making the most of their online presence and using it for engagement and driving loyalty effectively, but today’s consumer just won’t accept bog-standard ‘we will get back to you within 48 hours’-type emails any longer.

“Those adapting and improving their service through seeking benefits from the progressing market are those surviving.”

Last year Postcode Anywhere, published research finding the top reasons for cart abandonment.