Nancy Sharma
Do you ever wonder that the things we are buying all of that is not useful for us? We just get drawn to products and decide to buy but most of them are not actually our needs. Then why spend these much money on unnecessary things? What drives these choices? This is called the influence of marketing manipulation. Understanding why we buy what we buy is very important to know spending habits. It increases with evolution of digital era where we can find everything on devices like smartphones, pc or laptops. Sometimes there is no need to search anything it can itself appear in the form of advertisements, while scrolling reels, playing games or watching YouTube. These ads attract any individual to visit the website at least once and as soon as we are on it will get caught in the trap. When we begin to look then we are forced to buy something or the other even if we don’t need them. When everyone get to know the reality of manipulation in spending then it can help consumers make better financial decisions and help business create more effective marketing strategies.
The Role of Emotions in Spending
Most of the purchases are driven by emotions rather than logic. Common emotional causes are
- Happiness- Whenever people seem happy due to any reason they want to celebrate and enjoy it and for that they usually throw some party or do shopping. They often buy luxurious items and boost their mood through travel experiences and it becomes easier to do all these expenses just by sitting at the home. It is our sentiments which drawn us towards captivated products that are hard to ignore.
- Sadness or Stress- You all might have heard that buying something new can provide temporary relief and it is true because nowadays every problem has one solution shopping. Today I was upset as I had a fight with my friend so I went for shopping. I get less marks and feeling sad so I order one of my favorite dress from wish list. You must have heard many such stories once in your life but this has nothing to do that how do we feel rather it is a retail therapy.
- Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)-“Hurry! only few hours left- Grab your deal now!””Last- minute ticket sale- Get yours now!” It makes consumers feel pressured to buy this is called fear of missing out. People feel coercion when saw such ads and it works like an alarm so everyone try to grab it without being deprived of. Everyone wants to be one step ahead so that they doesn’t look any less.
Consumers usually influenced by the environment and people around them. How do they feel this pressure obviously through their surroundings. People are more likely to buy a product if others (friends, family, influencers or reviews) endorse it. Social media simultaneously plays a significant role and also the peer pressure spur on to spend more and more either to improvise their lifestyle or to compete with everyone in buying more luxurious items. We can’t weigh everyone in the same scale, with some societies valuing scrimping and saving and others give prominence to material wealth. But most of the people are running in a race which is a matter of concern.
There are many biases that can trigger the human mind and it has a great impact on financial decisions. - Anchoring Bias- First price is the only thing on which a consumer rely so much. (For e.g. Seeing an item of $1500 on sale for $700 seems like a good deal). This gives a saving sensation to human mind with a thought that they are making savings with a good purchase. But they can’t understand that it is just a marketing strategy and they are not making any saving at all.
- Loss Aversion- Nowadays fear is not of spending the savings but the real fear is of missing out. No one wants to keep wealth for future or emergency like situations, now their focus is on getting every single thing that their known ones have. No matter what their financial situation is, no matter how much wealthy other people are, every person is trying to compete with each other.
- The Diderot Effect- It is a phenomenon where acquiring something leads to triggers the chain reaction of subsequent purchases. (For e.g. If we buy a sofa it can trigger more purchaseslike new matching decor). It shows us how this habit increases time to time but it has no end. Once we be the part of crowd there is no turning back, our desires and needs hike up.
Desires and preferences are like a trap-once you fall into it, getting out becomes difficult. It turns our inner wishes into greed, which eventually drains all our savings. Living in that greed, we even forget that the things we truly need, the ones our family actually requires, are left far behind. In this race of shopping, our only goal is to stay ahead so that no one thinks we don’t have money or that we are less than anyone in any aspect. To maintain this false sense of status, we find it more satisfying to sink deeper into this trap rather than creating new sources of income or make own name as a brand in any respective field.
To avoid hasty spending and make smarter financial choices we need to follow some steps to become more mindful consumer - Practice the 24 hour rule, just need to wait for 24 hours before making a non essential purchase. It helps in rethinking which leads to logical decisions and overcome the unnecessary habit of spending.
- Need to identify emotional triggers, so that we understand every possible reason behind buying something so that we can easily understand when emotions are driving a purchase and when not.
- Most important thing is to unsubscribe from marketing emails, avoid ads on digital platforms which reduces the exposure to constant sales promotion.
Our spending is never come out of without any reason it is driven by emotions, social influences and marketing strategies. But the point is to understand that how market is trying to manipulate for their profits. When these things are clear in our mind or when we start thinking critically all these psychological factors help every individual in making more intentional choices and create more ethical marketing strategies. It is very important for us to clear in our mind that why we are buying what we are buying so that we can fulfill our needs and values without increasing extra expenses and in the act of imitation, never cause harm to yourself.
