The remove_from_cart Event in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

The remove_from_cart event in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is used to track when a user removes a product from their shopping cart.

While this might sound “negative” at first, it’s analytically extremely valuable: removing items from the cart indicates friction (price, shipping costs, second thoughts) or simply comparison behavior. Combined with add_to_cart, view_cart, and begin_checkout, this gives you a much more realistic picture of how users actually make decisions.

The remove_from_cart event is one of the e-commerce events in GA4 and should—like add_to_cart—be sent with items and optionally value/currency.

Implementation

The best place to trigger remove_from_cart is the moment when the removal has actually happened (after successful cart update).

Required fields & value logic

• items is required. Each item should have at least item_id or item_name set.
• quantity is technically optional but almost always important in practice. If you omit it, 1 is often assumed by default.
• If you use value, also set currency. value should (like other e-commerce events) be the sum of price * quantity for the removed items—excluding shipping and taxes.

Complete removal vs. quantity reduction

Many stores have both:

• Completely remove item (e.g., click on trash icon)
• Reduce quantity (e.g., from 2 → 1)

Both can be tracked as remove_from_cart. The important thing is that quantity reflects the quantity being removed.

dataLayer

window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
window.dataLayer.push({
    event: "remove_from_cart",
    ecommerce: {
        currency: "EUR",
        value: 29.90,
        items: [{
            item_id: "SKU12345",
            item_name: "Superfood Powder",
            item_category: "Superfoods",
            item_variant: "500g",
            item_brand: "MySupplements",
            price: 29.90,
            quantity: 1
        }]
    }
});

Common pitfalls

• quantity as new total: For remove_from_cart, it usually makes more sense to send the removed quantity.
• Bulk actions: Some stores offer “Clear cart.” In that case, you should either send multiple items (for all removed products) or intentionally represent the action differently (e.g., with a separate event).