So, when Gartner Studios, a paper company, partnered with Sharpie to create coloring-book style notebooks, pencil cups, and memo pads, it is no surprise I stopped at its premium, front-of-the-aisle display at Target and impulsively placed a spiral-bound notebook in my cart. “I have maybe 12 sharpies at home, this could be something to beat weekend boredom,” I thought to myself. After all, it was only $3, how could I resist?
My recent purchase of this notebook made me think about the nature of impulse buying and how it functions in the consumer culture today. The financial crisis made consumers acutely aware of what and how much they were buying. However, while consumers are certainly spending less than before, there is still a market for new and interesting items found at the point of purchase.
Whereas impulse buying used to be a part of normal life, it is taking on a new role in the economic downturn. In their recent report, “Eyes Wide Open, Wallet Half Shut,” Ogilvy & Mather identified an emerging trend which they call “Conscious Recklessness.” The idea of conscious recklessness is basically that consumers miss their carefree, frivolous spending, and despite economic concerns, impulse buying still exists. However, it is much more calculated; consumers budget time and money to spend needlessly.
For a lot of consumers, the recession sucked a lot of the fun out of shopping. While the article applies conscious recklessness to bigger ticket items, I think that this idea has implications for smaller purchases as well. Small novelty items such as my Sharpie notebook, Target dollar day finds, and unique packaged food products (case in point: Cheeseburger Doritos), allow consumers to take an economically justifiable departure from concerns about their finances.
Even though consumers are now, more than ever, questioning the balance between price and quality, and low-priced novelty items aren’t considered high-quality products by any typical standards, I think that there is intangible value in these items that justifies the price. Purchasing cheaper novelty items brings the excitement back into shopping and is a distraction from the stress of the recession.
For more information on conscious recklessness, check out this article from AdWeek:
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3id96098b1ed5efecdc9b7900ae07d5b18?pn=2
Alison Henley is a senior Business & Enterprise Management major with a concentration in Marketing.
it's eerie how much i can relate to this. fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am a sucker for impulse spending. I pass the $5 DVD stand at Target; I have to buy the classics (The Wedding Planner?). I hear a song I like at a friend’s house; I take out my iPhone and buy it. I go into CVS for toothpaste; I come out with pencils, mascara, and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. Maybe I lack self-control, but I like buying things and my habit (addiction?) is only fueled on the 8th day of every month. Most jobs pay every two weeks, but Wake likes to make its employees suffer and deliver pay checks once a month. The 8th rolls around, I’ve finally been rewarded for my hard-work (patience?), and I start buying everything in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I try to be more conscientious and not to spend so much on things I already have/don’t need, but I have been on this fixed interval schedule of reinforcement since freshmen year when I started lifeguarding at the pool on campus. And once I flip my agenda to the 8th day of every month…CHA-CHING! -Sarah Shelness
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this post back in September I remember thinking how much I could relate. I try to stick to my lists and go grocery shopping or to CVS only to buy what I need. However, that notebook or new shampoo or what not always seems to be calling my name. So I had been working on this impulse buying for a while now but then I got an internship and found out that it would be paid. As much as I tell myself to save I always end up buying something unnecessary. Now I only get paid once a month so my spending around the first always seems to be elevated. There was another blog about spending money on a board game because he got the word puzzle right and I would equate impulse spending with those “buy two, get one free” campaigns. I always end up buying two, so that I can get one free when I really only need one. So as I work on my spending before going into the real world, I feel that for now my paycheck has become a reinforcement schedule for my spending habits.
ReplyDelete-Chrissy Moreyra