Posts tagged Shopping

Are you an impulsive shopper? Wash your hands

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Spending money
Do you know an impulsive shopper? Ask them to wash their hands

Anyone one of us could be an impulsive shopper. 

You could be having a bad day. Then find yourself at the mall, doing some retail therapy, and buying tons of things you don’t need. Perhaps even buy one item; however, that one item is so damn expensive. 

You are always one moment away from making yet another impulsive shopper decision. 
One of the key factors that influences you, as a consumer, to buy is the endowment effect. 

The endowment effect basically says, “We place greater value on items because we own them.”
Adam Ferrier, The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour

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12 Questions to ask yourself before making an impulse buying

Consumer Behavior Self development Spending money

Impulse buying can be triggered by many things, but one of the most prominent reasons is to feel good, as in retail therapy. On the flip side though, when you don’t have the money and still make the purchase let’s say on credit, you end up feeling worse, you feel the “buyer’s remorse”, regretting what you just bought - later when you go home. 

Impulse buying has left so many people in debt, making them buy things they don’t need, and sometimes not use it altogether. With today’s buying on credit availability, if you are not careful, impulse buying could lead to serious repercussions of not only debt but also your psychological well-being.

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This is how we get tricked into buying expensive “stuff”

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing 1 Comment

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The principle that Sharon used in her letter with her parents is called “human perception, the contrast principle”, where the order of how things are presented to us affects our perception on the way we see things and the difference between them. 

Example,

You hold a glass of water at room temperature after holding a hot glass, you will perceive it colder than it actually is. 

You hold a glass of water at room temperature after holding a cold glass, you will perceive it hotter than it actually is.

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It basically explains every time we got intrigued to buy products/ services just because they say it has been reduced from AED 1,299 to AED 899. We think we got a good deal because we have “saved” so much money in this deal. Our brain has set the baseline for the produce as AED 1,299, the higher price, and so we place a high value on the product. When we see AED 899, we immediately think we just saved AED 400. In reality, though, we actually just spent AED 899. Whether or not we had this budgeted for our purchase is not the primary influencer in making us think it’s a good deal… or making us buy the product. 

Perhaps your budget was only AED 700. You would be thinking, “Technically speaking, that “great” deal is AED 199 more than my budget, but then again I just saved AED 400.” 

In this scenario, you didn’t save AED400. You just spent AED 199 more than my budget. 

Our thinking process deceives us into thinking it’s a good deal. 

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Ok, maybe I could be confusing you here… so to set the ground clear, let’s answer this question:

How do marketers trick us into buying expensive products?

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10 Psychology Tricks that Make You Buy more at the Supermarket

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Spending money

Supermarket Psychology: Product Placement is not Random

Supermarkets. Pretty standard, right?
It’s the one place everyone has been to and goes to on a weekly basis. Except, this isn’t the point. The point is, whichever supermarket you visit, it still has the same old basic arrangement of products. Try recalling the supermarket’s layout. So the veggies and fruits are placed at the entrance, meats, and cheeses at the back (always at the back), and let us not forget candy is at the cashier no matter what. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that all supermarkets happen to have the same design?

How many times have you bought goods you didn’t intend on buying when you first stepped into the store?

The arrangements of products inside a supermarket are not random; they are mainly categorized and organized in this way to indulge you into buying more. They are carefully designed psychological tactics to play with our shopping experience.

Why don’t we find out about some tricks? Shall we?

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Why did I start wearing that special occasion dress in a typical day?

Self development Spending money 2 Comments

While I intend to do the “spring cleaning” and do the occasional cleanup, I don’t get rid of as much stuff as I should. 

Any messy person like me, who made the attempt to try to be more “organized”, and did a little Googling, will find Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying. Although I had a pretty failed attempt on following her footsteps, as I mentioned in I couldn’t be a minimalist and here is why, I did come up with the conclusion of having, keeping and buying only the stuff that I fall in love with. Stuff that makes me feel beautiful. Stuff that makes me happy.

I can’t help but notice though that I do have many many things that I keep for a special occasion. That dress that was on a special sale I bought 4 years ago and never “had” the chance to wear it. The silver heels that I bought for that special occasion and only have worn it once at that special occasion. The candle lights that I will light up when I want to pamper myself at home. The jewelry that will only be suitable for that special occasion… that by the way, doesn’t happen that often.

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I might need that … so I buy it, I keep it, I pack it | Tales of an Excessive Spender

Spending money

Building on my impulse decision I mentioned in my earlier post, Do impulse decisions screwup your finances?, I can’t help reflect on my possessions - or to be more precise, the number of possessions I have.

I know. It’s completely out of the blue. Some might think, it’s random, but it’s not. 

You know how we work hard to get an apartment, then get a bigger apartment, then perhaps a deluxe… and all the way up to a house or villa? 

That is reflected in our innate need for more. 

I guess what I am trying to say is, that no matter what you currently have, you will always want something bigger.

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I couldn’t be a minimalist and here is why

Consumer Behavior Spending money 2 Comments

If you know me, and I guess you might not, you would know how much clutter I have. Whether that is in my apartment or in my car, you will find things everywhere… practically, left and right… On top of every chair… and pretty much on any spot, you could lay your eyes on. 

I think at some point in my life my mom gave up, called me “creative” and then starting laughing about it. At least we can laugh about it… right?

A few years ago, I talked to a friend who has become a minimalist and she told me how liberating that feeling was for her.

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Shopping for Clothing

Spending money

My wardrobe is full of clothes that I am not in love with because I bought them on sale. They were such a good deal! 70% off, even 90% off on some of them. I didn’t end up wearing them as much because…

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