We’ve all done it: enticed by an Instagram ad or an emailed discount code just for you!, you potter happily around an online store, throwing things into your bag.
A t-shirt with a pun about avocados embroidered on it!
Vintage reissue Reeboks in your exact size!
A phone case covered in pictures of Jeff Goldblum!
A miniature churro maker!
The Charlie’s Angels soundtrack on cassette, for some reason!
A $12 ceramic planter with boobs on it to make up the minimum for free shipping!
Skirts! Snacks! Novelty schooners!
The little number on the cart or bag icon ticks up in the corner, and eventually you’re done, and you tap it to survey your items, then… you shrug, and without a second thought, close the window, abandoning your shopping trolley like a Coles one in a Woolies carpark, and go on with your day, and roughly $113 still safely in your bank account.
You’ve just ghosted your cart.
Over half of Aussies regularly fill and then ditch virtual shopping trolleys, with fashion and homewares the most abandoned items. Abandonment rates can be as high as 75%, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the most abandon-y days – possibly because you’re all drunk shopping in Ubers on your way home from the pub or just idly browsing on the couch before falling asleep in front of Parks & Rec again.
But it might also be because the site makes you make an account (i.e. hand over your valuable data to their marketing list) before buying, or because the shipping from the US nearly doubles the cost of the order, or because you see the words “allow 15-25 business days for delivery” – or because you just come to your senses and realise you don’t need all that crap.
While it’s a big problem for ecommerce businesses – who really, really need all you impulsive never-gonna-own-a-house millennial ratbags to buy that limited edition hoodie or use Afterpay to pretend you can afford a green velvet couch – it’s actually very financially responsible of you.
Ghost-carting is like window shopping, without the actively rude step of wandering into a bricks-and-mortar store, picking up items as you browse, and then dumping them all on a table full of mini succulents as you walk out the door without buying a thing.
Is there a term yet for the now-rampant stores with
-tiny succulents
-$300 sack dresses
-ceramics with boobs on them
-macrame
-palo santo sticks
-geometric gold earrings
-letterpress cards
-at least 3 items w/questionable arrow/feather/tipi imagery
I’m ready to make a bingo card— Chelsey Johnson (@chelseyhotel) April 7, 2019
But it’s also better than window shopping, because clicking the button that says ADD TO CART, gives you a little rush of instant gratification – possibly more than you’d get from actually handing over your Paypal password and seeing that money come out of your account in exchange for some stuff you don’t need and won’t even get for at least a week.
In other words, acting like you’re going to buy things can be more fun than actually buying them.
You’re imagining a version of yourself who buys $400 kicks just for kicks, who can afford that velvet couch without spreading it across multiple pay cycles, who has an adorably styled bedside table waiting to be covered in a tightly curated collection of tasteful vintage knickknacks instead of sticky mug rings and empty ibuprofen packets.
And getting as far as ADD TO CART feels more active than just browsing Insta and sulking about how everybody else has nicer clothes or a bigger record collection – that idle envy makes you feel as empty inside as your wallet.
But don’t think of ghost carting as sadly giving up on your velvet-couched, tit-planter dream after playing pretend with the BUY button.
You get all the fun of window shopping, AND reassuring yourself that you’re making the responsible choice by not just buying stuff for the hell of it, or when you can’t afford it.
Then next time you get as far as the checkout to buy something that you really, really do want, that custom Jeff Goldblum phone case is all yours, guilt-free. In 15-25 business days.
