In the US alone, sales during this year’s Prime Day are expected to total $6.17 billion. Shoppers snapped up everything from the possibly reasonable, like discounted TVs, to the more questionable, such as bitter apricot seeds. Not everything arriving in mailboxes will turn out to be a great bargain, observers say. “As someone with a closet full of items I’ve used once or not at all, I consider myself a reformed impulse buyer,” Cheryl Wagemann, a retail analyst, and editor at the shopping comparison site Finder, confessed in an email interview. “I’ve rashly purchased everything from designer flannels I could have borrowed from my husband’s closet to gaming consoles because I wanted to play one game on that system.”
The Lure of Deals
Wagemann is one of many people who were lured into buying things when they were better off just putting their credit cards away, Gina Pomponi, President, Media at Bluewater Media, said in an email interview. Her firm estimates that 88.6% of American adults have impulsively shopped to the tune of $81.75 per shopping spree, she said. “Prime Day is one such event that creates an urgency in consumers to make a purchase to take advantage of the perceived higher value,” she added. “With impulse purchases, many times comes buyer’s remorse.” Wagemann says a cell phone was the worst impulse purchase she’s ever made. “At the time, I was swayed by what its camera features could do for my personal blog photography,” she added. “I ended up paying too much for a model that was quickly outpaced by the next generation. I should have researched what camera aspects make a difference in photo quality, rather than impulsively buying into the brand’s clever marketing.”
The Mind of An Impulse Buyer
“This catapults many individuals into fragmented and disorganized consumer decision making processes, often leading them to purchase much more than intended,” Steinman said in an email interview. The pandemic can make things worse for shoppers who are too quick to spend. Spending a lot of time in front of a computer doesn’t help. Also, in these dark times, “buying something online can give someone that little boost in happiness that’s welcomed while balancing home and work life in the confines of quarantine and social distancing,” Wagemann said. Wagemann’s recommendation for those considering an ill-advised purchase? Give it time. “I’ll add an item to my cart while I browse on my downtime, and then revisit a couple days later,” she said. “Most of the time, I realize I can live without it. And for larger tech purchases, I now compare different models and give the specs sheet a long, hard look to make sure it ticks all the boxes.”
