If you are one of those who find Christmas shopping to be a painful experience you may be comforted to know that your discomfort is by
design. According to this article by Oliver Burkeman in The New York Times, “evidence
suggests that the less comfortable you are during the seasonal shopping spree,
the more money you’ll spend.”
“So stores crank up music, repeat the same songs, over and
over again, pipe in smells, race shoppers around to far-flung points of
purchase and clog their heads with confusing offers. All of which makes it more
likely we’ll part more readily with more money.”
It works too. Yesterday I went into Hot Topic in The Mall to
pick up a few things for Peanut (she loves the store!). Though the store was
playing a familiar Rolling Stones song, it was blaring so loud that I found
it to be annoying. That being said, I still made a purchase.
“Music played at high volumes, for example, may be
irritating, but researchers from Penn
State
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that online shopping is expected
to increase by 12% over last year. Online shopping now makes up 6.3% of all
retail sales and continues to increase year after year.
And, according to this story, 16% of those online shoppers
are doing their holiday shopping in the bathroom.
