Why People Buy Things They Dont Need

[jeffrey]

A friend who saw the cover of this book asked if it was one of those simplify-your-cluttered-life guides. Quite the contrary. Pamela Danziger's Why People Buy Things They Don't Need comes to praise shopping, not to bury it.

This book is aimed at sellers of things we don't really need, from balloons to Bulgari. For shoppers, it's like peering behind the employees-only door.

Most of us will see ourselves in this book. Here, in great detail, is what we buy, why we buy it and strategies to move us from "just looking" to "I can't live without a Spode Christmas butter dish." (Confession: I have one.)

Consider a world in which we would buy only what we need. Sure, Tiffany would close, but so would the corner bookstore. These days, so would the drugstore. How much of it is really drugs?

Danziger's five buying types:

• Self-expressives buy to reaffirm their identity to themselves and to others (about 28% of discretionary income shoppers).

• Careful indulgers have a more practical, reasoned approach. Far less likely than self-expressives to make impulse purchases (about 23%).

• Impulsives buy on the spur of the moment for the thrill (about 18%).

• Conflicteds buy first and feel guilty later. Shopping leads to letdown (about 17%).

• Bargain hunters get the least pleasure and emotional gratification from buying (about 15%)...[read more at usatoday.com]

[sdc2027]

I'm one of the 15% that gains no pleasure from shopping- I dislike standing in line and aisles clogged with people and carts. I generally shop after midnight when I get off work. I get in and get out, If I browse I buy stuff and then take it and my feet hurt! lol

[luna-mia]

*sigh -- Guess I'm one of the conflicteds. But realizing that alot of my impulse purchases I regret later and end up "decluttering" has helped a great deal.

[mahanda]

i hate shopping so i am in that 15%. i do lenjoy getting a bargain though.

[kealina]

i'm mostly a careful indulger... when i occassionally buy something retail on impulse (happens less than once a year) i turn into a conflicteds... i usually regret it... for some reason this doesn't always apply to garage sale finds... but for everything else, yep...