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Impulse Purchases: How to Make Less of Them

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If you’ve ever bought something on a whim and regretted it later, you’re not alone. Impulse shopping accounts for 40 to 80 percent of online and in-store revenue, according to a frequently cited statistic.

Meanwhile, retailers have devised all sorts of clever strategies to capitalize on this common consumer weakness, from targeted e-commerce ads and “free” refunds and giveaways to intentionally placed items in a checkout line and more. Companies can then create a database of their “impulse buyers” and further tweak advertising tactics to reel in these same customers again and again.

When these ploys succeed, we end up spending money that we don’t have on things we really don’t need. This can divert us from life goals or values that are important to us.

Whether you’re planning to retire early by saving aggressively, saving up for a dream vacation somewhere exotic, or hoping to be more generous in supporting causes you care about, the following tips can help you stay on track by building your resistance to impulse buying.

Know Your Triggers.

More mindfulness about what motivates you to impulse shop can improve your self-awareness and inform wiser consumer choices. An article in Psychology Today shared some common motivations:

 

  • Pleasure – Just the anticipation of a treat or reward releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine in our brains, but this pleasure is very short-lived after a new purchase, research has found.

 

  • Feelings of anxiety or depression – Those who feel anxious or depressed, or who struggle to regulate their emotions, are much more likely to indulge in compulsive shopping to feel happier, studies say.

 

  • External validation – Sometimes a particular product is hard to resist, because we associate having it with looking good in the eyes of others. This calculus can happen so subtly that we don’t realize it’s motivating a sudden urge to buy something.

 

Find Something Better to Do.

Knowing your triggers can help you more objectively assess whether an immediate urge to buy something is worth the expenditure of money and time.

If you know your trigger is a desire for pleasure or a depressed mood, you can consciously choose to replace shopping with another activity that’s more pleasurable or better relief for depressive feelings. Exercise, getting outdoors, or calling a friend are just a few examples.

 

Stick to a Shopping List.

Because it is extremely easy when shopping to get distracted by items that you don’t need, making a list of items that you know you need can encourage more focus and self-discipline. If you’re someone who likes making lists for trips to the grocery store, you may benefit from making lists for other shopping excursions as well. This is especially true if you generally stick to your shopping lists.

 

Vocalize Your Intention.

It may seem like a small thing, not to mention a bit goofy, but vocalizing your intention to stick to your shopping list can be more effective than you might think. Try it sometime. Before entering a store or logging on to Amazon, say aloud, “I will only buy what’s on my list, nothing more.”

 

If you need more motivation to resist impulse purchases, say aloud the reason why you plan to stick to your shopping list: “I will only buy what’s on my list, because this time next year I will be on my dream vacation.”

 

The 48-Hour Rule

If you have a sudden urge to spend more than $100 on any item, don’t. Instead, give yourself a full 48 hours to decide. This tip comes from the New York Times bestselling author David Bach in his book, Smart Women Finish Rich.

“By forcing yourself into this ‘cooling-off’ period,” Bach wrote, “you give yourself a chance to decide rationally whether the purchase really is necessary.”

After he started applying this strategy in his own life, Bach found that the items he “just had to have” in the store didn’t seem as important when he got home; and, because he was “buying less and less, shopping began to feel more and more like a waste of time.” Over time, this relatively small behavioral tweak changed Bach’s life for the better in a significant way.

Learning how to spend less on things we don’t need is a habit that can be acquired with practice. In the process, we might very well discover that we feel happier, healthier and more aligned with the life we’ve been wanting to live.

 

 

 

Kossi Adzo is the editor and author of Startup.info. He is software engineer. Innovation, Businesses and companies are his passion. He filled several patents in IT & Communication technologies. He manages the technical operations at Startup.info.

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