I returned today from a 13-day trip, with my husband and three other couples, to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It’s an old colonial town northwest of Mexico City that’s attracted thousands of American, Canadian, and European expats for quite some time now. The climate is superb. Wonderful sounds, both instrumental and natural, fill the… Continue reading Did Dr. B Have a Relapse?
Category: Retail Psychology
Stop Shopping!
Can’t stop shopping insanity? Try shopping your own closet! Every minute of every day, inside and outside of every closet, there’s a woman who thinks she’s got nothing to wear. Can you relate? Every day, closet doors open on rooms full of nostalgia and dream sizes, garments we convince ourselves we’ll one day wear again.… Continue reading Stop Shopping!
Shop ‘til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism
The Media Education Foundation’s film Shop ‘Til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism is a refreshingly contemporary and interdisciplinary peek into the machinery of American consumerism and advertising. Though it sees no end in sight to our appetite for overconsumption, it documents an end to the capacity of our planet, with its limited resources, to… Continue reading Shop ‘til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism
Danshari: Ditching Materialism for the Simple Life
Michael Hoffman, in an interesting new article in The Japan Times Online, describes danshari, a lifestyle idea that complements three other stuff-minimal concepts, voluntary simplicity, wabi sabi, and true wealth. Voluntary simplicity, you may recall, has origins in the 19th century and calls into question the values of material wealth and status; it focuses instead… Continue reading Danshari: Ditching Materialism for the Simple Life
What’s Wrong with Haul Videos?
Last April, I wrote: “I’m scratching my head about—and steeling myself for the potential fallout from—a new internet phenomenon, the “Haul Video,” examples of which are popping up on YouTube like mushrooms after a rain.” There are now over a quarter of a million of them! What’s a Haul Video? For the better part of… Continue reading What’s Wrong with Haul Videos?
Shoptimism
Lee Eisenberg’s Shoptimism is a journey into the psychology of shopping from two sides of the cash register, the buy side and the sell side. It could easily be the upbeat textbook for Retail 101, exploring in its first half the buy side—why we consumers shop—and in its second half the sell side, how different… Continue reading Shoptimism
Recession Promotes Family Time Over Shopping
Jennifer Lance, writing in the January 7th Eco Child’s Play, calls our attention to a positive (and somewhat unexpected) consequence of the economic downturn. She cites a New York Times and CBS News poll which found that “more Americans are spending more time with family and friends and less time shopping during the recession.” The… Continue reading Recession Promotes Family Time Over Shopping
Continued Media Focus on Compulsive Shopping
Compulsive shopping is pretty much out of the closet now, with continuing treatment in television, film, and print. Here are four recent examples of note: “The Bank of Mom and Dad,” a BBC show that begins airing on SOAPnet September 30th, is “reality programming as a financial-makeover show.” In each episode, a young woman in… Continue reading Continued Media Focus on Compulsive Shopping
Consumer Behavior: Messages into the Void?
Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior (Viking, 2009) . An old philosopher’s question asks: “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one to hear it, does it make a sound?” An updated version, tongue-in-cheek, is this: “If a man speaks in the forest and there’s no woman to hear him, is he still… Continue reading Consumer Behavior: Messages into the Void?
16 Strategies to Curve A Compulsive Shopping Addiction
I’ve given you the three main strategies for stopping compulsive buying and curbing a shopping addiction. Now, I want to share with you some more tips to stop overshopping, things to think about, and questions to ask yourself if you think you’re at rick of developing a compulsive shopping addiction. First, keep in mind the… Continue reading 16 Strategies to Curve A Compulsive Shopping Addiction