Reasons to buy discounted products

The so-called fixation bias is a perceptual distortion that leads us to make decisions based on the first information.

Why is it so hard to resist shopping during sale periods? In the opinion of Enrique Soler-Labagos, Associate Professor at Studies in Psychology and Educational Sciences From the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), one of the keys is the way marketing plays with our minds so that it tends to buy.

He does this through a call Anchor bias. “An entrenched bias is a cognitive distortion in which we tend to make decisions with consideration to the first information available to us,” says the psychologist. “Its origin is unconscious, but it can also be intentionally manipulated so that consumers make a buying decision when they have little information available,” he says.

As he explains, it works in the following way: the brain records the first known price of something, so that it is “fixed” at that first amount. If it falls, the brain perceives it as a bargain, even though the second price may be much higher than the value of the thing you want to buy.

“For this reason, many companies prefer to set their prices much higher, so that few sales give a very high margin, but their focus is on sales in sales, where the discounted price is likely to be their fair and true value,” it states.

Emotions and purchases

However, it is not the only factor that plays an important role in boosting purchases. Emotions also play an important role in this attraction to sales due to the fact of believing that you are buying a bargain, which generates a sense of well-being.

“The simple fact of eating actually causes pleasure. Let us not forget that compulsive shopping is a very effective, although not healthy, anxiolytic, apart from being expensive, to treat anxiety symptoms. If we add to this that we belong to the society that imagines “ball culture” “The best ingredients are provided for us to fall into the networks of corporate marketing managers,” he explains.

An example of how emotions can play tricks that sales professionals take advantage of is the situation that arises when we want something. “For example, if you are going to visit an apartment with the intention of buying it, and you show that you are absolutely in love with that apartment, the moment you bid, you will find that there is no room for negotiation,” Soler Labajos explains.

Another example is the use of “not the customer,” which occurs when a salesperson asks what a person is looking to buy and fully understands that they have a product that is exactly what they need. “It will offer other similar products that are not exactly what you are looking for, with the sole aim of getting you to say no. The seller knows that humans have a harder time saying no than saying yes.” They will try again with two or three other options, with the goal of “getting you out” than a couple or three other options,” he says, explaining that it will be increasingly difficult for a client to say “no.”

“Finally, it presents you with the product you have already planned, which meets your expectations better than any of the previous products, even if not all of them. In addition, the ad now specifically remembers that it is a promotional item, and says it was more expensive last week. In this Phase, it will be nearly impossible to say a fifth “no,” and you’ll end up buying the product, even if it doesn’t meet all of your expectations, says the University of Oklahoma collaborating professor.

Additionally, messages such as “golden opportunity” or “last days” can lead to impulse buying, as “adding such a short time to decision-making is done precisely so that you have nothing on your mind, and make you buy it with your heart. Unfortunately, They are effective techniques, because they give us that ‘now or never’ feeling. If I don’t buy it now, I may regret it later.”

Tips to buy wisely

To prevent you from buying products that you don’t really need just because they are on sale, there are some guidelines that can help you. According to Enric Soler Labajos, these are the main ones:

– Think before you buy. “Don’t be naive: companies exist to make money, not lose it,” he recalls. An example is the “VAT-free day”. It is, by definition, illegal. What you buy is subject to VAT, regardless of the price at the time. So they try to seduce you with something “forbidden”, and “forbidden” always attracts you.

– Put your emotions aside So you don’t buy anything you don’t really need. “Fall in love with life, not consumer products,” advises Soler.

– Shop with a mobile phone in hand. A good idea is to Google the reference of the product you’re interested in and find out the price of the product itself.

– In the supermarket, pay attention to the price by weight, not in the total price of the product. This way the products can be compared fairly.