How to survive 24x7 sale season
Rachel Lopez
If you’re drawn to discounts (who isn’t?) it’s getting tougher to hold on to your resolve. What used to be an annual event is now a year-round medley of Festive, End of Season, Republic Day, Singles’ Day, Clearance and Flash sales. Everything you’ve ever looked at online has an afterlife as a targeted ad. Except it’s now 60% off + 15% more on the app + 5% more via UPI + 3% more if you subscribe to the newsletter. If you want to join the resistance, here’s how to frame the fight-back. Youtuber Nick Kolenda, who draws on psychological research to decode everyday behaviour, says context determines how we respond to a price tag. A common sales technique is to display “the cost of their products next to a higher alternative, often the original retail price or a more expensive variant,” he says, in a post.
lUse your own anchors. Measure the price of an item by what you earn per hour, or just what it’s worth to you. Suddenly, that calfskin jacket, marked down 50%, looks less tempting than a hotel upgrade on your next break. Researchers have been studying it since the 1950s. Retailers have been manipulating it for far longer. In shops, they’d put impulse buys in the window display. Online, these products dominate pop-up ads. These end up being the items that sell out fastest at a sale — because we’ve already been primed to want them. Unsurprisingly, they trigger the most remorse. Deploy your previous purchases as a shield. “I screenshot the things I’ve bought and regretted,” says Pramila J, a crafts professional from Mumbai who professes a weakness for party heels. “So when temptation strikes, I look through my phone and know not to buy more.”
lFor many, the idea of scoring a bargain is more attractive than the item itself. So at a sale, they’ll lap up the “Hot Deals” not knowing that many of the products have been available at the same discount for months.
Only buy something if you wanted it before it went on sale. Alternatively, if something looks exciting, wait 20 minutes. That’s how long it typically takes for an impulse of this kind to fade.
lOnline pricing systems often raise or drop prices based on available stocks and buyer data. Meanwhile, algorithms track which sites you visit most, how long you stared at that calfskin jacket, what else you looked at and how often you click on ads offering discounts. That information, put together, is a veritable portrait of your interests and weaknesses.
lAnalyse your buying patterns yourself. Do you tend to shop when you’re up at night? Distracted at work? After an argument? Just before breakfast? Use that data to determine if your next purchase is driven by need or habit. And beat algorithms at their own game. “Until October, all the ads I’d see were for shoes,” says Pramila. “I took half an hour to visit every hardware site I could find. Now, all I see are ads for power drills, which I’d never want. I click on one every now and then, to keep fooling the bots.”
Researchers coined this term for the emotion being elicited by those “Limited Time”, “Early Bird”, “Members Only” and “Festive Season” discount tags. They exist to get buyers to believe they’re on to a select opportunity and will regret it if they pass it up.
Leave products in your e-cart for 24 hours to test if the attraction fades (or is replaced by a better deal).
You should also try creating your own festive seasons, by buying consumer goods when you know they will be at their lowest prices — swimwear after summer, yoga pants after January resolution period, gym equipment in the monsoon, jewellery between gifting seasons.
Sadly, there are never banners to announce this. You’ll have to put your own calendar together.
l