How many times has it happened to you that once the frenzy and noise of Black Friday deals fades, you realize that you have made completely unnecessary purchases? This is a fairly common feeling but it can be avoided if we pay more attention. Faced with the “alert” situations that companies present to us with their offers on deals we can’t refuse, our brain stops acting rationally and instead is completely carried away by the most purely emotional part. Additionally, the number of items at our disposal, which supposedly have a price so low that it will never be repeated, also influences us.
Catalogs from companies like Amazon, Costco, Best Buy, or Walmart seem endless on dates like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. That is why once we understand how our brain works and how big companies take advantage of it, we can put into practice measures that will prevent us from this type of compulsive buying, such as checking the real prices before these deals appear, having a simple list of products you need, paying in a way that makes you notice the investment, and not falling for the common low-stock tricks of products.
How does Black Friday work?
The feeling of regret and guilt that buyers experience once the offer dates like Black Friday or Cyber Monday have passed is very common, but also avoidable. Many people, once they have received all their purchases, look at them and ask themselves, “Why did I buy this?” This behavior follows a predictable psychological pattern that companies put into action, knowing how consumers will react.
Black Friday works because it appeals to the most emotional side of consumers: “if you don’t buy it, it will be gone,” “only a few units left,” or “this unrepeatable price,” are some of the phrases intended to appeal to our more emotional side. Companies put us in a state of “alert,” through which we feel that if we buy these products at that moment, we are passing up the best deal of our lives. However, reality is usually very different. This pressure that consumers are subjected to causes them to make hasty decisions, relying on automatic thinking rather than deliberate reasoning.
What else affects hasty decisions?
In addition to creating a pressure-filled environment where the consumer feels needs they don’t actually have, companies also use another trick. Companies like Best Buy, Walmart, Costco, or Amazon offer endless product lists, which also affects the rational decision-making part of the brain. Another strategy is the emotional appeal of bargains. As we have mentioned, by creating an environment where the volatility of offers and opportunities predominates, decision-making is completely influenced.
What can we do to avoid compulsive shopping?
These tips are equally applicable to dates like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, as well as any other type of offer we may find in stores. Knowing that companies take advantage of strategies like the ones mentioned to influence consumer decision-making, we should put into practice ways to avoid falling into this type of compulsive buying.
- Check prices before the start of sales campaigns, which helps you detect false discounts.
- Make a list of products you actually need and stick to it.
- Shop slowly. Step away from a product that catches your attention for 10 minutes: emotional impulses often fade.
- Pay in a way that makes you aware of the investment and spending you are making.
- Do not fall for tricks like the ones mentioned, such as “low stock” or “unrepeatable price”.
Although days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday can be good choices for getting your Christmas shopping done, don’t forget that the goal of companies is to sell you things you don’t need, but you have the ability to refuse them and to shop responsibly.