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In order for a shell to explode, it must have some sort of detonation trigger. Thus trigger is usually called a fuse.
The most common reason for a shell to NOT explode was a faulty fuse. Millions of fuses were made during the war, and some percentage of these fuses had manufacturing defects in them. These defects were small enough to be missed during quality checks, but still large enough to cause the fuse to malfunction and fail to ignite.
In other cases, the fuse itself had a faulty design, and would frequently fail to detonate, even when properly manufactured. The US Mark 14 torpedo of the early war years was a prime example.
Other problems with the fuse, such as poor storage and maintenance, could also lead it to malfunction and fail to detonate.
Even if the fuse ignited, it was still possible for the main explosive charge to fail to detonate, for reasons similar to why the fuse wouldn't go off (manufacturing defects, poor storage or maintenance, bad design, etc.).
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