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Begin Checkout

ConversionRetailE-commerce

Counts the number of times users initiate the checkout process after adding one or more items to cart. This metric is a critical lower-funnel conversion indicator because it measures progression from shopping intent to purchase intent and helps identify friction between cart and checkout.

Business Use Case

Used by e-commerce, product, and CRO teams to monitor checkout funnel entry volume, evaluate cart-to-checkout progression, identify UX friction, measure impact of checkout experiments, and diagnose abandonment between cart and purchase.

Business Criticality

High

Journey / Navigation Area

Digital Analytics

Scope

Event

Formula

Begin Checkout = COUNT of checkout initiation events where event_name = 'begin_checkout'

Calculation Notes

1️⃣ Count each begin_checkout event occurrence. 2️⃣ Do not deduplicate unless explicitly required. 3️⃣ Exclude bot/internal traffic where applicable. 4️⃣ Ensure event fires only once per checkout initiation. 5️⃣ Count multiple begin_checkout events in one session unless business rules specify otherwise. 6️⃣ Align attribution to event date/time for funnel reporting.

Technical Details

Measure TypeCounter
Aggregation WindowEvent, Session, User, Weekly, Yearly, Daily, Monthly

Events

PlatformEvent
Google Analytics 4begin_checkout
Adobeevent25

Data Mappings

W3 Data Layer
{
  "event": "begin_checkout",
  "ecommerce": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "value": 129.97,
    "coupon": "SPRING10",
    "items": [
      {
        "item_id": "SKU-12345",
        "item_name": "Running Shoes",
        "item_brand": "Acme",
        "item_category": "Footwear",
        "item_variant": "Black-10",
        "price": 79.99,
        "quantity": 1
      },
      {
        "item_id": "SKU-67890",
        "item_name": "Performance Socks",
        "item_brand": "Acme",
        "item_category": "Accessories",
        "item_variant": "Large",
        "price": 24.99,
        "quantity": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  "checkout": {
    "step": 1,
    "step_name": "checkout_start",
    "cart_id": "CART-98765"
  }
}
GA4 Data Layer
{
  "event": "begin_checkout",
  "ecommerce": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "value": 129.97,
    "coupon": "SPRING10",
    "items": [
      {
        "item_id": "SKU-12345",
        "item_name": "Running Shoes",
        "item_brand": "Acme",
        "item_category": "Footwear",
        "item_variant": "Black-10",
        "price": 79.99,
        "quantity": 1
      },
      {
        "item_id": "SKU-67890",
        "item_name": "Performance Socks",
        "item_brand": "Acme",
        "item_category": "Accessories",
        "item_variant": "Large",
        "price": 24.99,
        "quantity": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  "checkout_step": 1,
  "checkout_step_name": "checkout_start",
  "cart_id": "CART-98765"
}
Adobe Client Data Layer
{
  "event": "begin_checkout",
  "commerce": {
    "cart": {
      "cartID": "CART-98765",
      "priceTotal": 129.97,
      "currencyCode": "USD"
    },
    "productListItems": [
      {
        "SKU": "SKU-12345",
        "name": "Running Shoes",
        "quantity": 1,
        "priceTotal": 79.99
      },
      {
        "SKU": "SKU-67890",
        "name": "Performance Socks",
        "quantity": 2,
        "priceTotal": 49.98
      }
    ],
    "checkouts": {
      "value": 1
    }
  },
  "promotion": {
    "couponCode": "SPRING10"
  },
  "checkout": {
    "step": 1,
    "stepName": "checkout_start"
  }
}
XDM Mapping
{
  "eventType": "commerce.checkouts",
  "commerce.checkouts.value": 1,
  "commerce.order.priceTotal": 129.97,
  "commerce.order.currencyCode": "USD",
  "productListItems[].SKU": "SKU-12345",
  "productListItems[].name": "Running Shoes",
  "productListItems[].quantity": 1,
  "productListItems[].priceTotal": 79.99,
  "_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar10": "CART-98765",
  "_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar11": "checkout_start",
  "_experience.analytics.event1to100.event25": 1
}

SQL Queries

Google Analytics 4 (BigQuery)
WITH begin_checkout_events AS ( SELECT event_date, event_timestamp, user_pseudo_id, user_id, ga_session_id, event_name, (SELECT value.string_value FROM UNNEST(event_params) WHERE key = 'currency') AS currency, (SELECT value.int_value FROM UNNEST(event_params) WHERE key = 'value_usd') AS event_value_usd, (SELECT value.int_value FROM UNNEST(event_params) WHERE key = 'ecommerce_value') AS checkout_value FROM `project.dataset.raw_digital_events` WHERE event_name = 'begin_checkout' ) SELECT DATE(TIMESTAMP_SECONDS(event_timestamp)) AS metric_date, COUNT(*) AS begin_checkout FROM begin_checkout_events GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 1;
Adobe Experience Platform (AEP Query Service)
WITH begin_checkout_events AS ( SELECT DATE(eventTimestamp) AS metric_date, identityMap.ECID[0].id AS mcid, eventType, commerce.purchases.currencyCode AS currency, commerce.purchases.value AS checkout_value FROM xdm.raw_digital_events WHERE eventType = 'commerce.purchases' ) SELECT metric_date, COUNT(*) AS begin_checkout FROM begin_checkout_events GROUP BY metric_date ORDER BY metric_date;

Source Data

Digital Analytics, Tag Management, Data Layer

Dependencies

Prerequisite: List the dependencies required for this Metric

Metrics:

currency

Dimensions:

item_arraycheckout_value

Report Attributes

Date, Device Category, Channel, Source/Medium, Campaign, Landing Page, Country, Region, New vs Returning, Logged-in Status, Cart Value Bucket, Item Category, Item Brand, Coupon Code, Checkout Step

Recommended Reporting Views

Views
E-commerce Funnel DashboardConversion Rate DashboardCheckout Performance DashboardExecutive KPI Dashboard

Segment Eligibility

True

Governance

Data SensitivityInternal

Derived KPIs

Cart-to-Checkout RateCheckout Abandonment RatePurchase Conversion RateCheckout Starts per UserRevenue per Checkout Start

Governance

Created byswapnamagantius
Created on4/29/2026
Last modified bydevyendarm
Last modified on6/3/2026
StatusPUBLISHED

GitHub

View related Pull Requestcatalog/metrics/begin-checkout.yml

Community Discussion