{"id":117393,"date":"2019-02-26T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/retail-therapy-and-the-power-of-the-impulse-buy\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T09:25:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:25:28","slug":"retail-therapy-and-the-power-of-the-impulse-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/retail-therapy-and-the-power-of-the-impulse-buy\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail Therapy and the Power of the Impulse Buy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retail therapy can be defined as the act of shopping with the sole purpose of improving one’s mood or disposition. We’ve all been there\u2014buying things on impulse to relieve stress after a bad day or to treat yourself after a long week. For an example, look no further than your own shopping habits. Take a look at the receipt from your last shopping trip (or your latest online purchases) and consider why you added each item to your cart in the first place. What was driving your purchase decision? Chances are, there is at least one item in there that you wanted more than you needed.<\/p>\n

According to statistics, consumers in North America and the UK tend to follow similar patterns when it comes to their impulse shopping habits.<\/p>\n

North America<\/h3>\n

88.6% of Americans<\/a> have succumbed to the temptations of impulse shopping, with an average spend of $81.75 per session or $17.78 billion per year. Americans also make up to 156 impulse purchases every year, spending up to $5400 annually, or $324,000 over their lifetime. On a smaller scale, impulse shopping is also prevalent in Canada\u201463% of Canadians admitted to shopping impulsively<\/a>, with an average spend of $73.81 (CAD) or $8.8 billion per year.<\/p>\n

These impulse shopping trips aren’t isolated events, nor are they a rare occurrence. The New York Post references a poll conducted on Swap.com showing that Americans spend up to 65 hours per year shopping<\/a> online and 90 hours per year shopping in-store. Of this, over a fifth of all retail purchases (22%) were bought in the name of retail therapy. Invesp also found that 40% of the money spent<\/a> on e-commerce websites were impulse purchases.<\/p>\n

The UK<\/h3>\n

In the UK, Mortar London on behalf of Finder.com<\/a> found that 78.4% of Brits succumbed to impulse shopping and more than 22.9% were making impulse purchases on a weekly basis. A study by MYJAR for the Independent<\/a> estimates that impulse buys account for about 108 purchases a month, equating to an average of \u00a3200 a month, or \u00a3143,902 over a lifetime. Of these respondents, 4 in 10 admitted to making purchases in the name of retail therapy and 54% of these purchases were happening online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clearly, this means retailers should never underestimate the power of the impulse shopper.<\/p>\n

\"Impulse<\/p>\n

How to use impulse shopping to boost sales<\/h2>\n

Remember the \u201cFour P\u2019s of Marketing\u201d? These principles can help boost impulse purchases as well. Utilized in conjunction, these ideas capitalize on the compulsion to just add \u201cone more item\u201d without putting much thought into it.<\/p>\n

Product:<\/h3>\n

In North America, Slickdeals found that the top five leading product categories for impulse shopping online include groceries, clothing, household items, takeout food, and shoes. This is further corroborated by CreditKarma\u2019s research on stress spending<\/a> where most of the respondents reported purchasing clothes, food, alcohol, electronics, jewelry, tattoos, and even cars to alleviate stress. As for the UK, Whistl found that the top five leading product categories<\/a> for impulse shopping were clothes, food and drink, home accessories, shoes, and jewelry.<\/p>\n

One thing to remember is an impulse purchase should be effortless and require little thought. The best impulse buy products are:<\/p>\n