Picture this, you’re back home from the supermarket and the contents of your bag seems to have mysteriously evolved way passed your carefully planned shopping list. I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time – 20% off this, tasty that, but what are you really going to do with that pack of 30 candy bars? Probably eat a tenth of it and give the rest to your neighbor’s kids.
It’s not just supermarkets that make you feel like you went sleep-shopping, for all the good it does to explain magically appearing items in your purchases. Our current culture of consumption encourages us to give in to temptation and purchase something, on the spot, without considering the consequences of the buy.
Here is a three part series on how to avoid impulse buying that will show you the reasons behind your rash purchases, how shops manipulate our subconscious minds into purchasing more and what tips to use the next time you go shopping, so you don’t end up again with that pack of 30 candy bars.
Part one of this series deals with the reasons behind impulse buying – the things that are hardwired into our psychology and make us think : “Oh, what a great idea”, “Hmm, she has one too – I should get one as well”, “This will definitely brighten my day” and “It’s ok, I can afford that, it’s only a few bucks”.
Anxiety and unhappiness
You shop more when you are feeling down. Most impulse buys tend to occur when the person is in a stressful situation or experiences less happiness. In this case you buy something as way to improve your mood – it has the same soothing role that food does. The same way ice cream accompanies the end of a very rough emotional day, shopping sends a nice flood of endorphins through your body at the thought of owning something new.
Shopping enjoyment comes also from empowerment – you did it, you succeeded in getting that item that you craved; you wanted it, you went for it and you got it.
In addition, when you are stressed, it becomes a lot more difficult to control your emotions which, in turn, makes it harder to resist the emotional urge to impulsively spend money.
Imagine all the people
Some of the people that find themselves making rash purchase decisions are also social butterflies – they are concerned with their image and status. They buy more if they think those items will make them look good in the eyes of the others.
As a result, they end up investing a lot of value into the item- ‘if I get this, then people will admire me’ – which in turn gives it power over them and makes it that much more attractive. After all, how could you not get something that would have such a positive impact on you?
Vicarious Ownership
You look at the dress on the stand and run your fingers over it, or you listen to those high volume speakers and you just fall in love. You need to have them, preferably now. This is what vicarious ownership is. It means that when you form a connection with a product your mind acts as if it already owns the item in question.
The connection can be physical (by touching, smelling, hearing), mental (‘I want to feel the same way the people in the add/people who have this feel) or social (‘someone in my close circle also has something like this). Once the connection is formed, it becomes a lot harder to walk away.
Loss Aversion
People generally want to avoid feeling bad in the future. Most of us prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. What it means is that people don’t want to feel bad later for not purchasing the things that they don’t need now, since they feel they will lose this opportunity if they don’t act immediately.
People become more focused on the potential loss of a deal or an item (‘I might not catch this offer again’, ‘I might not find something like this again’) than on evaluating what they would stand to gain by it (‘how would my life be improved by that exercise machine that I would never use?’).
Desire to save
As a species we have endured through many times of scarcity – a long time ago we would have happily squirreled away all items essential for survival, like food, tools, shelter material. In our days, that attitude has shifted towards money, since it is the one that ensures our survival in the current world.
It means that our minds are attracted by bargains – think of how much you could save by buying this now, when it’s reduced, instead of when you might need it and it will be full price. Who of us doesn’t have a whole host of items that seemed like ‘good deals’ at the time but we never ended up using?