This one thing is costing Egyptian e-commerce real money

Picture an Egyptian shopper scrolling her phone on the commute home. She finds the sneaker drop you just teased on Instagram, taps ​“Buy,” and—boom—she’s met with a forgotten‐password loop. Two tries later, she closes the tab, and the LE 2,600 sale is gone. Globally, almost 70 percent of online baskets suffer that fate, according to Baymard Institute research.​(Baymard Institute)

The new numbers look even worse

Frontegg’s 2025 Forgot Your Password? A survey puts a microscope on the problem: 87 percent of consumers have quit a purchase because login steps drove them crazy. The average lost order was worth $85, and frequent buyers, your highest-value segment, abandoned even more often at 92 percent.

Why this matters in Egypt right now

Egypt’s e-commerce market is projected to hit $10.2 billion in 2024 and almost $15 billion by 2028, growing nearly 10 percent a year.​ With checkout volumes rising, every point of conversion you lose to authentication pain costs more real pounds. And regional shoppers are quick to punish poor experiences: one-third of MENA consumers would switch sites after a single failed payment.​

Regional shoppers are already frustrated

A Tabby survey of 7,500 Gulf consumers found that 82 percent encounter at least one annoyance while buying online, and 60 percent have ditched a cart because of payment hassles.​ Egypt’s mobile-first, price-sensitive audience is unlikely to be more forgiving.

Security anxiety collides with speed

Marketers can’t simply strip security: banking and government sites rank as the most painful logins in the Frontegg data, yet Egyptians remain wary of fraud. MFA and biometrics are gaining traction across the Middle East and Africa, with the National Bank of Egypt rolling out single sign-on and multi-factor options for millions of customers. The trick is to let users choose the lightest secure path—OTP over SMS or WhatsApp, fingerprint, or a magic-link email—rather than forcing a long password reset.

How to turn frustration into conversions

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  Offer true guest checkout. Seventy-seven percent of consumers say they pick guest mode because it’s faster; 65 percent will bail if you require an account.

  
  


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  Make one-tap passwordless the default. Social sign-in, device biometrics, and login-by-link cut repeat-buyer friction without sacrificing identity data.

  
  


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  Store—but don’t show—credentials. Keep tokens in a PCI-compliant vault so returning users skip form-fills yet still clear two-factor checks when risk spikes.

  
  


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  Audit every form field. Baymard finds the average checkout has 11 form fields—far more than needed. Each extra field is an exit ramp.

  
  


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  Recover intelligently. Trigger on-site nudges and cart-recovery emails within 30 minutes of an abandoned session; include a one-click resume link that bypasses login.

  
  


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  Track the leak. In Google Analytics or your CDP, tag events for “password reset start,” “captcha fail,” and “account creation prompt” so you can quantify drop-offs and A/B-test fixes.

  
  

The bottom line for Egyptian marketers

Ad spend is climbing, competition is regional, and consumers have near-zero tolerance for hoops between “Add to cart” and “Thank you.” By removing the password potholes—without skimping on security—you can reclaim revenue, reinforce brand trust, and keep Egypt’s rapidly expanding pool of online buyers coming back. Think of authentication as a conversion lever, not just an IT chore; the payoff could be measured in millions of recovered pounds this year alone.