When it comes to online purchases, e-marketers have a variety of tools that help them pressure people into impulsive purchases. For example, they have a rich amount of data about our buying habits and can aggressively market things to us that we have been likely to buy in the past. To make their offers seem extra appealing, they can also display things like the number of people who have already purchased an item or the exact number of products left in stock to make us feel like we need to get something fast before it runs out.

A 2019 study² found that the things people most often buy impulsively are clothing, household items, children’s items, beauty products, electronics, and shoes. The involved researchers suggested that more ethical practices and guidelines for retailers will need to be established in the past, to prevent people from buying things they don’t really want or need. For now, impulse buying, despite the catastrophic effects it has for consumers as well as on our planet as resources are wasted needlessly, is an accepted sales tactique and you can easily find sites online that advise businesses on how to increase impulse buying!

What you can do to protect yourself is to install ad blockers wherever you can to protect yourself from commercial content in the first place. Also, before you buy something online, try to imagine how many hours of work or how many meals the amount you’re about to spend equals. Ask yourself questions like: Do I really need this? What would I use it for? Do I already have something similar that fulfills the same function?

Purchasing things might give you a short adrenaline rush, but remember that you just might be left with an empty feeling and an even more empty bank account afterward if you let things get out of hand.