Impulsive Shopping
Posted by Improving Lives Counseling | Articles
Online, catalogue, and network shopping is easy, convenient, and diverse, offering more choices at better prices. A great deal for most, yet problematic for many, specifically the impulse shopper. As a society we are flooded with advertising on cell phones, iPads, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Using sales strategies that draw the buyer in, and computer cookies to track user activity, the impulse shopper is drawn in with point of sale specials, the appearance of great buys, and by linking emotions to products. Even email accounts, Facebook pages, favorite blogs, apps, and games advertise eye catching products. Impulse buying, a common behavior in today’s society, if not diagnosed and treated can lead to the destruction of the family, loss of employment, loss of friends, and financial ruin.
Psychology Today reports approximately 10 percent of adults in western countries have a compulsive spending disorder. Identified by some as a habit and by others as a disorder; personality, pleasure, and product access leads to impulse buying. Whether aligned more closely with impulsive-control or obsessive-compulsive, impulsive shopping is a legitimate disorder. Challenged by the task of distinguishing between what is wanted and what is needed, and needing the rush of dopamine shopping provides, impulsive shoppers unsurprisingly spend more and buy more regularly. The counselors and therapists of Improving Lives Counseling Services can help.
There are a number of reasons people impulsively buy. In a family, group, or individual counseling session we can identify and sort influences such as loss aversion, empowerment, compulsion, low self-esteem, and feelings of loneliness. Seeking the guidance, help, and support Improving Lives Counseling Services can provide is a must. Today’s advertisers and marketers prey on the impulse shopper using psychological techniques to steer the shopper to buy what they know they can’t afford and don’t need. You can’t combat this alone or on your own. Pressure from family, friends, and bill collectors will only spark the need for a more potent high which inevitably leads to more shopping.
The days of joking about hiding items in the back of closets or under the bed are gone. Americans are in more debt than ever before, yet there are more ads on our electronic devices, more flyers in the mailbox, and more network shopping channels. Even free video games have popup ads and incentives to spend. It’s everywhere and it’s not your fault. Let Improving Lives Counseling Services, through diagnosis and treatment, give you the life you are meant to live. Call us.
