The psychology of impulsive shopping

With Black Friday, Christmas shopping and the winter sales all approaching, what is it that makes some of us susceptible to irrational purchases?

With Black Friday, Christmas shopping and the winter sales all approaching, consumers around the world will once again overindulge in systematic unplanned purchases that provide little more than a short-term emotional fix. At times, this can cause long-term problems, such as regret, debt and spiritual emptiness.

It is indeed the season for impulsive buying, one of the few areas in which marketers and businesses appear to be up to speed with the science of psychology, not least because of their desire to leverage it at the expense of consumers' rationality. From sales assistants who compliment you on your looks, to those who pour you a glass of champagne, and machine-learning algorithms that nudge you into buying things you don't need - but still want - a big chunk of marketing budgets are devoted to stimulating reckless and mindless spending.