Do you often drag yourself into impulsive buying?

 

“An impulse purchase or impulse buying is an unplanned decision to buy a product or service, made just before a purchase.One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser or impulse buyer. Research findings suggest that emotions and feelings play a decisive role in purchasing, triggered by seeing the product or upon exposure to a well crafted promotional message.”

 

In your day to day life, knowingly or unknowingly you go through instances where you succumb yourself to the lure of impulsive buying. The product companies are out there in every shop, every mall, every online marketplace – blaring adverts, offers, packaged deals to you. We have seen earlier that Supermarkets do extensive research on how to push their products and how to compel buyers to spend more in their stores.

Can you give me some example so that I can relate whether I am buying stuff impulsively? As far as I know i am not into impulsive buying

• When you go to supermarket to buy monthly grocery, you pick up few ready to eat meals as they are packaged beautifully and kept in the front area of supermarket. They always have “buy one get one free” offer

• You go to shopping mall to purchase refrigerator and you end up buying that 75inch LED TV also just because there was an offer going on that. You , being a sincere shopper, got charged emotionally and purchased the big TV just because your conscious felt that you are saving substantially on this purchase. You didn’t even give a  thought to what you will do with the TV set adorning your living room which you bought last year in similar fashion

• How many times you have noticed that you enter mall for grocery shopping with a budget of INR5000 and end up spending INR 1500 on grocery + “something else” which had a GREAT offer?

 

Yeah that’s OK, but sometime you need to grab the offer that is going on else you will miss the boat and God knows when such offer will return?

A seasoned impulsive buyer always suffer with FOMO – Fear of missing out. If you add up all impulsive MISCELLANEOUS purchase over a period of time, you will be shocked to know the amount you have spent on these purchases.

 

Below I am listing few reasons – why people shop impulsively

 

• Love of shopping – some people simply love shopping. For them shopping is like a therapy. They are always under illusion that few items here and there won’t disturb their bank balance.

• Some shoppers are always in loss aversion mode. They fear that if they do not buy certain items which are on sale, they might end up at losing a big amount of money.

• Some shoppers succumb themselves to twisted offer phrases. “Buy 2 get third free” , “buy this and get that free” etc. The moment they see these offers, they succumb to it without further researching about the product, service, and quality.

• Some shoppers have genuine desire to save more. They succumb to the offers on supermarkets which says “you save INR100” , “Buy & save INR1000”. In order to feel good , they buy these items.

• Some shoppers always feel that they should have an edge over others when it comes to latest gadgets, latest fashion , latest automobiles. They always pick up items which they feel will make them look cool among their social network.

 

 

Hmm.. Sounds right. I never knew impulsive shopping is such a bad habit and I must admit that I myself must have lost a fortune by now through impulsive shopping.

Yes, impulsive buying is harmful. By the time one realise this, he/she would have lost a huge fortune on it. This could hamper your financial planning, your early retirement, your retirement plan and can pose a big threat to your financial independence planning.

Below I am keying in few important actions through which we can avoid impulsive purchase

 

• Always make a shopping list when you go out for shopping – AND “Stick to it”

• Follow a mandatory waiting period if you plan to buy anything. If you see anything which you wish to purchase, wait for 7 days and see if after 7 days do you have the same urge to buy that thing? Most of the time the urge is momentary and it dies down soon.

• If you already owe the item you wish to buy and you intend to replace it, clean it. Now see if you have the same urge? E.g. if you have a pair of shoes and you intend to replace, clean the old pair, wash it / polish it. If you still feel that you should go for the new pair, then go ahead

• Remember – only fools rush in. All gadgets, the first edition always have some glitches and service issues. Better to wait and go for later releases. They are relatively bug free and cheaper.

• List down your impulsive purchases – revisit the list periodically so that you do not make the same mistake again

• Keep decluttering your house often. This will keep you in check of all the items you have and you will not end up buying them again. This is specially applicable for stationary items and tools.

• Avoid going for shopping with RICH friends or friends who are spendthrift. Believe me, you will save a lot by doing this

• Don’t save your credit cards at online shopping sites. If you save then it’s a matter of few clicks and online order gets executed.

• Buy all items cash. Parting with currency notes is much more difficult compared to swiping plastic cards.

• Final point is BUDGET. Here is how you can make a simple budget. Plan big purchase well in advance and cover them with cash/debit card.

 

 

Great. Very practical points. I am sure I can implement these easily in my day to day life and I can save loads of money by doing this.

Yes, the advice given above is quite practical in nature and easy to integrate in your lifestyle. Always remember it’s your own hard earned money. By avoiding impulsive buying you can use your money in much better way.

 

Happy Investing !!!