9 Ways Online Retailers Get You to Spend More Money
Most people value money a great deal. But when it comes to online shopping for your favorite items from the convenience of your home, the trade-off doesn’t feel so bad. From free shipping to countdown clocks, there are various online retailer tricks to lure you into loading up your cart and spend more than you can afford.
In fact, online shopping statistics show that in the next few years, over 2 billion people around the world are estimated to purchase goods or services online every year.
And while online shopping might be rewarding for a few, it often breaks your budget and weighs heavily on you in the long-run. People with mental health issues are especially susceptible to retailer tricks to spend more.
If you wonder how online shopping causes you to spend more money, here are 9 tricks that online retailers use to make you give in to your spending desires!
Free Shipping
One of the most common problems of online shopping for buyers is that they have to pay for the purchased items to be shipped to them. Online retailers eliminate this inconvenience by offering free shipping or flat shipping rates. However, such offers usually require you to spend a minimum amount of money. This minimum spending restriction makes free shipping incredibly profitable for retailers as most buyers are willing to spend more just to avoid the shipping cost.
Limited Offers and Countdown Clocks
According to the scarcity principle, anything limited creates a sense of urgency, triggering us to act. Limited offers and countdown clocks on online shopping websites get shoppers to buy more, thinking it will sell out soon. The sense of urgency, be it in-store or online shopping, creates an undeniable call to action.
Suggested Emergency Fund Through Impulse Saving : How to Build it
Convenient One-Click Checkout
Another hassle of online shopping for buyers is to enter payment and shipping details every time before checking out. Online shopping statistics show that 89 percent of shoppers prefer buying items on Amazon as it has a quicker “Buy Now” option than most websites.
More and more online shopping websites are making online shopping a breeze by saving your payment information and offering you fast one-click checkout. Many websites also offer an express checkout opportunity, allowing you to buy with only one or two clicks. While a fast checkout process is not necessarily bad, retailers use this as a trick to eliminate time for buyers to reconsider the items in their cart.
Spending Discounts
Many online retailers offer discounts that are based on a spending limit. For instance, spend $60 to get $10 off or $100 to get a 20% discount. This retailer trick much like the free shipping strategy, allows you to get a bigger discount, the more you spend. Wondering how this benefits the retailer? The truth is the retailer’s bottom line is expressed in dollars and cents. So, even with a 20% off discount, the more money the retailer is making from increased sales, the more profitable it is for them.
Online Ads Stalking Buyers
Online ads are now an incredible tool for retailers to target buyers; it provides an excellent opportunity to know exactly what they are looking for. Ads that stalk you usually go unnoticed because you don’t realize what’s happening. First, online shopping websites track your browsing history using cookies. Next, they use targeted ads offering the same products you’ve already viewed online. Once these ads start stalking you online, it is unlikely that you would turn down the chance to buy something you like every time.
Suggested 5 Reasons to Break Up With Your Bank
Gift Sets
A lot of department stores and niche businesses like body care brands offer beautiful gift sets to buy for yourself or others. Buyers often visit the website to buy one item but end up leaving with a gift set as it seems to offer better value against the cost.
Charm Pricing
Have you ever wondered why a bottle of moisturizer is selling for $4.99 instead of $5? This is actually a retailer strategy known as “charm pricing.” Research shows that buyers are more likely to associate this price with $4 rather than $5. This perception tempts buyers to purchase more. In contrast to this strategy, high-end retailers use “prestige pricing,” which is using rounded prices as buyers are likely to associate rounded prices with quality and luxury.
Easy Return Policies
When it comes to return policies, it sounds obvious that customers would return more purchases when online retailers have easy return policies. While this is true, shoppers are also more willing to buy when a purchased item is easy to return. Much to the retailer’s advantage, longer return windows relate to fewer returns as buyers start feeling more attached to their purchases. Easy return policies also reduce the urgency to decide whether to the purchases or not.
Strategic Product Placement
Usually, the first few products you see when you visit an online shopping website aren’t the most popular selling items. Often these items are the things that the company wants to get rid of most urgently. However, since they are featured on the homepage, many buyers assume that these are the most popular ones. This retailer trick makes it likely for a buyer to quickly add one or more of such items into their cart.
Suggested Save Money on Food and Drinks With TimeTested Tips
Bottom Line
Whether the retailer tricks are used for positive means or not, these tricks are slick and unobtrusive. For a buyer, it is hard to tell when retailers are using them to target buyers to spend more.
If you are someone who wants to curb your online shopping addiction, a smart tool, like the Doctor Money app might be just the tool you need. Download the app right now to better control your spending and expenses even when it’s an add-to-cart kinda day!