Jerusalem, 29 April, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli researchers say guilt may play a major role in one of e-commerce’s biggest problems: abandoned shopping carts.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management found that online shoppers are significantly more likely to abandon purchases when their carts contain mostly “indulgent” items rather than practical necessities.
The findings offer a psychological explanation for a costly industry-wide problem that drains billions of dollars in potential revenue from online retailers each year.
According to recent estimates, more than 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before checkout is completed.
The study — conducted by Prof. Liat Hadar, Prof. Yael Steinhart and Prof. Yaniv Shani of Tel Aviv University together with Dr. Gil Appel of George Washington University — analyzed nearly 15 million purchased and abandoned items from two large e-commerce databases. The researchers also conducted four controlled experiments.
The conclusions were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Consumer Research.
The researchers found consumers were more likely to abandon purchases when carts were filled with products associated with pleasure, pampering or entertainment rather than practical utility.
Examples of indulgent products included chocolates, scented candles, luxury beauty products, decorative home items and novelty clothing. Practical products included household supplies, batteries, sports equipment, water bottles and storage boxes.
Even after controlling for factors such as total price, number of items, browsing time and user characteristics, the ratio between indulgent and utilitarian products strongly predicted whether shoppers completed purchases.
“Our findings show that shopping cart abandonment does not stem only from technical considerations such as price or shipping, but from a deeper psychological process of purchase justification and guilt,” Hadar told The Press Service of Israel.
The idea for the research began with Hadar’s own online shopping habits.
“As a psychologist, I approach any behavior with the assumption that psychological factors play a central role,” she told TPS-IL.
“I often left enjoyable items — such as clothing, cosmetics or specialty products — in my online cart without completing the purchase. It was not due to price or friction in the checkout process. Rather, I noticed that at the final stage, I simply felt bad about buying them.”
The researchers said consumers often seek ways to justify indulgent purchases by balancing them with practical items. A cart containing necessities appears more psychologically defensible, reducing feelings of wastefulness or self-indulgence.
Hadar said the results were consistent with previous research showing consumers frequently experience guilt over “hedonic,” or pleasure-oriented, purchases and search for rational justifications before completing them.
The findings could have major implications for how recommendation systems on e-commerce platforms are designed.
“To my knowledge, recommendation algorithms typically recommend similar or complementary items,” Hadar explained.
“For example, adding a scented candle might trigger recommendations for another candle in a different scent. Our findings suggest recommending a utilitarian product instead — such as matches — is more likely to lead to purchase completion.”
She said recommendation systems should consider not only whether products are similar, but also whether they are perceived as practical or indulgent.
The study also raises ethical questions about whether companies could strategically reduce shoppers’ feelings of guilt.
“Retailers are already, to some extent, managing consumer guilt through bundling, discounts or framing strategies that make purchases feel more justifiable,” Hadar said.
Hadar’s team is now studying how recommendation systems influence not only reactions to suggested products, but also how shoppers perceive items already sitting in their carts.