When you overdo it, I don’t buy into it

I remember when I was a kid and the sales season come, we would go rushing to the stores and grab that good deal.

Now, every now and then, I get a text message with 50% off and 70% off “selected items”. I am sitting minding my own business and I get bombarded with a few more. 30% off the whole store. Buy one get one free.

I have friends asking me, “Are you going to the mall for that special sale?”

And my response is, “There is always a sale.”

Nonetheless, this didn’t actually stop me from asking my friends if they are going to go to the mall for that sale.

And their response? “There is always a sale. In fact, I know some people who when to the mall and found out that the sale is actually for a VERY minute selected “few” items.”

I came to a point where the word sale or discount no longer impacts my decision. In fact, I look at the color red and wonder why the hell does this color has to always be associated with the word sale/discount. I bet it invokes emotion.

In fact, I just did a quick search. Red is associated with clearance sales due to the fact that it invokes both urgency and the feeling of excitement. It also increases heart rate. No wonder. We are triggered. It helps in spontaneous purchases. You didn’t plan for those ones.

But, I guess the more I am exposed to sales and super clearance for a “limited time”, hence, invoking the feeling of scarcity, the more I get less influenced to buy. The purpose is to invoke the “urgency” feeling of buy now or the chance is gone. However, if that happens every month or every other month, I don’t see how scarce that chance could be.

#JustSaying