“Buy what you don’t have yet, or what you really want, which can be mixed with what you already own.”
-Karl Lagerfeld
With days it is getting literally impossible to focus on the right and needed products. The web is filled with influencers who are encouraging buyers with their best verbal and physical strategies, almost 24×7.
I myself have purchased products which I never knew existed until I saw influencers raving about it on YouTube, Instagram and other advertising windows, often clubbing it with offers.
Fortunately, because of my logical and old-fashioned behaviour I could save myself from getting addicted to impulsive shopping but I also decided to conduct local research to understand this behaviour.
A local qualitative research was used to develop hypotheses from in-depth interviews. Majority of my friends associated impulsively bought products with happiness and temporary self satisfaction. Many similar researches too confirmed that impulse buying is a common method of product selection, in part, because the shopping act and impulsive product selection provide hedonic rewards.
We already have wide variety of insurance policies for future safety. I won’t be surprised if one is soon launched under the impulsive buying segment.
So, who and where is the real problem? Promotions on websites like YouTube and Instagram? Frequent offers by companies? A wide variety of product availability? Or confused consumers?
After all my observations, I came to the conclusion that it is because of the absence of feeling self achievement/self satisfaction. Majority of us don’t know where to look for self achievement other than our professional environment. The challenge is: in our professional lives because we are associated with only monetary rewards attached with tough competition, we cannot feel completely satisfied quickly, as a long cycle is required to achieve it.
So, to easily feel satisfied ends up as impulsive buying which comes as easy as pissing in your pants (leading eventually to regret). Only ways to come out of this ethically is to:
1. Ask yourself why you need this product. Write down the reason if need be.
2. Try keeping products in your cart for a few days and check later to see if you still need them.
3. Try shopping for grocery after having a full meal.
4. Try asking for samples before buying the product straightaway.
5. Practice buying for quality instead of quantity.
6. Keep cleaning your home and wardrobe, biweekly if possible.
7. Get into the habit of donating things that you don’t utilise more then once or twice in six months (fast food items not included). This will allow you to realize how much you buy versus how much you actually use.
8. Stay away from influencers’ posts.
9. Try going to stores to shop, instead of ordering online.
10. Make a budget and stick to it.
11. Beware of joining too many email lists.
12. Don’t shop when you’re emotional.
13. Most importantly, look for alternative habits to engage yourself with instead of shopping.