Do You Impulse Buy?

At times many of us impulse buy, it could be that we see a bargain and can't resist taking opportunity of that bargain, or we may feel that the bargain will only be at that price for a limited period of time and if we don't take that opportunity then we will miss out. Or it could be that everyone else is talking about something and we happen to see it and decide we are going to buy it even though we have been saying that we aren't going to 'jump on the bandwagon'.

There isn't anything wrong with the occasional impulse buy, the problem is when we do it often and seem to have very little control over our response to impulse buy.

There are some traits that go with people that seem most prone to regular impulse buying, often they are more social, image-conscious and desire status. Often impulse buyers are more likely to suffer with anxiety and struggle with controlling their emotions, they are likely to generally experience less happiness and live more in the moment without having much awareness of the future or the consequences of their actions.

These traits can lead to impulse buying being a natural consequence of the psychological make-up of the individual. Generally when people look externally to others for validation and place control externally from themselves, for example via superstitions or by making purchases to create happiness, then they are likely to impulse buy to increase status and to 'fit in' and to keep an image that they want others to see. They are also more likely to impulse buy as a way of feeling happy and having control over their emotional wellbeing. Unfortunately if the outcome of the impulse buying is an instant good feeling and the individual is detached from the negative feelings and effects that happen at a later time then they ae likely to associate the good feeling with the buying and so reinforce that behaviour increasing the chances of carrying out the behaviour again in the future.

One strategy to stop impulse buying or other negative habits is to recall the negative effects of the buying whenever you think of impulse buying so that with time the memory of the negative effects gets linked to the buying, replacing the positive memories and reducing the desire to impulse buy in the future.