One of the first books that I read on American consumerism was Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks. A couple years later, I picked up Trading Up by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske. Both of these books were good at explaining purchasing trends among America’s middle class, but neither specifically addressed what businesses do to tempt people into spending money.
After asking around, I picked up Why We Buy by Paco Underhill on the recommendation of several friends. Aha! I had finally found a book with scientific answers. The book is written for retailers who want to increase sales, but I read it as a consumer who wants to see through marketing tactics and not fall prey to unnecessary consumption.
Informed shoppers can keep their spending in check and clutter-prone items out of their homes by thinking about the following issues before going into a store:
- Trick: Retailers organize their stores in ways that encourage you to see and visit everything they sell. The more you see, the more likely you are to buy. Foil: Have a shopping list before you go into the store and stick to it.
- Trick: Stores provide shopping carts and bags so that you can have your hands free to grab as much as possible. Foil: Don’t take a cart or a bag when you enter a store (when you can avoid it).
- Trick: Displays are often placed on aisle end caps and in the middle of sales floors for items that stores want to move quickly because the items are high profit margin or overstocked — not usually because these items are the best products or on sale. Foil: Evaluate prices against comparable products and product quality, and ask yourself questions such as these before deciding to buy these items.
- Trick: Grocery stores know that more people impulse buy in their businesses than in other businesses, especially people who bring children with them. Foil: If possible, shop while your children are at a violin lesson or spending time with their favorite aunt. Also, pay with cash instead of your debit card so that you can more directly feel the impact of your shopping decisions.
- Trick: Retailers hang and display their products so that you can reach out and touch them. People often buy what they touch. Foil: Be aware of what you touch in stores. If you can’t keep your hands to yourself while shopping, consider doing most of your purchasing online instead of in a physical retail environment.
- Foil: An online Consumer Reports subscription also can help by providing you with tested product information before you go shopping. A well-informed consumer is a good consumer.
Why We Buy has hundreds (maybe thousands) more retailing tricks within its pages. If you’re interested in learning what stores are doing to get you to buy and bring more clutter into your home, I highly recommend reading it. I think that you will be surprised by all of the tricks retailers have up their sleeves. Also, if you know of a good book that we might have missed on this topic, we would love to hear about it in the comments section.
Remember, too, that we’re not against consumerism. We just believe that it’s better to make the right choices about what we buy than to just buy things to have more stuff.