Have you ever found yourself going from not even knowing a product existed to clicking purchase mere moments after a friend mentioned it off hand? I was in that boat this past week. While I certainly “saved” some money taking advantage of a holiday sale, I still spent a more than I would have not making a purchase.
Sales Don’t Always Save Money
Not saving money buying something on sale sounds counter intuitive. I mean clearly that’s just wrong, right? While sometimes there are certainly sales that outright save money. However, I often find that sales tend to tip the scales for me to make a purchase that likely wouldn’t have otherwise.
I retroactively justify purchases telling myself, “I was going to buy a new one anyway.” Just this past weekend, this moment came in the form of a purchases from the outdoor store REI during their Memorial Day sale.
Making this purchase led me to finally pick up a few items I was considering off of Amazon for some time. These weren’t necessarily things I needed, but have long put off buying. One item, a pack of dry erase markers, I’ve had on a shopping list since January.
Going through the checkout process on Amazon, I noticed even more ways that companies encourage spending, even just a few more dollars. Nearing my order completion, I received the prompt to add about ten dollars more for free shipping. I honestly started looking for something else to buy, I mean it’s FREE. After some brief browsing, and not finding anything I felt I needed, I decided to just eat the shipping cost. Luckily, I was able to sign up for a Prime trial, even though I was previously a Prime member for over a year. It was a win-win for me there, no shipping fee and no unneeded items.
When buying something on sale, at the end of checkout, money has been spent. It may be less than the standard price tag, but it’s still coming out of your pocket.
The Power of Friendship
After heading down the online shopping spiral, I wondered how I got there. I wasn’t even aware of the sale until I heard some friends talking about it. Before I knew it, I was perusing the selections and found what I convinced myself I needed.
Word of mouth is an often under appreciated method of marketing. While advertising screams in our faces and jams it’s way into our feeds, the positive word of a friend can sway a purchase with little resistance.
It doesn’t always even need to be intended social influence either. The pressure of standing out in a situation can lead to buying the way back into normalcy. There have been a number of times I found myself going out to a bar with no intention to drink, but eventually I caved and bought myself one…or more.
The point I’m trying to make isn’t to cut off all relationships or never buy something on sale, but to bring back awareness when buying something. This is for myself more than anyone. The question that needs to be asked before every purchase, “why am I really buying this?”
Trying Out Before Buying In 