Chip shortage impacts Christmas shopping 1:21
Editor's Note:
Dr. Catherine Franssen is a highly trained neurobiologist, leading science communicator, senior lecturer, and life scientist at the Virginia Museum of Science.
The opinions expressed in this comment belong solely to the author.
(CNN) -
As supply chain disruptions continue to affect businesses around the world, consumers could have a difficult time making their holiday purchases this year, whether it's due to out-of-stock or rising sales. prices or both. And considering the nearly two years of constant stress and burnout surrounding COVID-19, shoppers will be more vulnerable than ever to the marketing tactics retailers use to trick their brains into frantically spending and hoarding.
Most of us don't realize it, but our brains are inherently lazy. Due to both the availability of resources and their functional properties, neurons (also known as brain cells) tire with use. To avoid its own fatigue, the brain takes shortcuts and tries to make quick, "intuitive" judgments rather than long, drawn-out considerations. These quick assessments of the world can be incredibly helpful as we make thousands of decisions every day, but they can also frequently lead to errors in judgment.
Retailers and sellers know it.
The essence of decision-making is usually in the limbic system, which regulates emotions, memories, and habits.
This means that nostalgia and traditions are the driving force behind many of our Christmas shopping, making it easy for retailers to trick your brain by hitting the chords.
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To ensure that you make rational decisions amid this holiday shortage, there are a few things you can do to teach your brain to slow down and think about every purchase.
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Be intentional and make a list
It may sound silly, but lists can prevent excitement from taking over your purchases.
If you calmly think about each item that you may need in advance, you will take the burden of making decisions and increase the intentionality in your purchases.
Writing a list quickly does not count, as it opens the door to not trusting what is written and makes it much easier for you to deviate from it and fall prey to the marketing tactics of retailers.
By having a list that you know you've thought through, you can train your brain to trust that you won't make the extra purchases “just in case” that retailers want you to do.
Minimize discomfort
Just as you prepare to do gardening tasks by putting your
podcast
favorite and with some special shoes, you can also get ready to go shopping. Discomfort leads to urgency in decision making, leading to purchases that meet immediate needs rather than reliable strategic purchases. Once you walk into a store, it is often difficult to find a place to sit or a bathroom, prompting you to rush shopping and make convenience purchases. Even a few minutes to breathe deeply, have a snack, drink water, go to the bathroom, and sit down for a moment to review the list before you shop can change the physical signals of stress sent by the body and slow down the process of making better decisions. This short investment of time can pay off big time and money on a shopping trip (either in person or online).
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Control your prejudices
To influence your purchases, retailers take advantage of cognitive biases in advertisements, product layout, display techniques, and much more.
They tend to display expensive items close to more moderately priced ones, knowing that most customers will buy in the middle range.
Those more expensive items distort the customer's perception of value, who ends up buying an item slightly more expensive than anticipated, buying more items, or both.
To further take advantage of this effect, retailers display the original price of an item that is on sale.
Another cognitive bias that leads us to frantically shop, overspend, and make questionable decisions is the scarcity effect, which describes the change in our perception of an item when it is rarer. Retailers exploit it by offering an offer or product "for a limited time only" or "while supplies last." Our brain perceives these advertising signals as a threat, and evokes competitiveness and our fear of missing something.
Scarcity is aversive and triggers the desire for abundance.
As we saw at the beginning of the pandemic with toilet paper and cleaning products, when items are harder to find, customers buy larger quantities when they find them, hoarding the products for themselves in the face of the possibility of a future shortage.
In addition, this need for abundance makes customers less selective and buy other items to fill the gaps.
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Every "Black Friday" shoppers get carried away. The current shortage in the global supply chain means we can expect unprecedented battles throughout the holiday season over the last jar of pumpkin pie spice and the latest Baby Yoda toy on the shelf. Retailers are counting on it. Rather than restock items that will be out of stock for a long time due to supply chain issues, they will leave the labels with a hole on the shelf, while making sure to add alternatives and options nearby. They will want you to see the gap and panic that items are missing. This is an obvious sign that what they claim is true: everything in the store is available only "while supplies last."
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Many people saved money during the pandemic and have a savings surplus.
More so than in previous years, retailers will take advantage of this circumstance to make them spend.
And in an age of uncertainty about supply and inflation, our brains fear centers are poised to protect us from pain and loss, creating an ideal landscape for marketing strategies.
Control your emotions during Christmas shopping
Christmas marketing campaigns are designed to tap into deep-seated emotions.
Nostalgia is a special form of long-term memory that activates reward pathways in the brain along with memory regions.
Interestingly, it also activates an area called the striatum, which plays a role in motivation, action planning, and decision-making.
When triggered by watching an ad or listening to a song, this "pink glow" of childhood memories motivates you to do something, like buy a little extra for your brother.
This is going to be an insanely expensive Christmas, but buyers don't seem to care that much
After an interrupted Christmas season last year, our brains are looking for an added treat to add to that web of memories. We are going to be especially susceptible to messages that remind us of past holidays, and it is very likely that we will want to buy additional gifts and food in an attempt to recreate, and perhaps exceed, the pleasure we remember. Holiday advertising often features traditional family gatherings and interactions to reminisce about the past. This year, that will be accompanied by details such as music, fashion and games from earlier eras to take advantage of key markets.
We may also be more prone to environmental cues, especially smells related to positive Christmas experiences.
Retailers are likely to use these items to increase sales.
If you are shopping and are feeling nostalgic for someone, text them and let them know that you are thinking of them instead of overselling.
If an item reminds you of someone or an old story, take a photo or screenshot and spend some time remembering, no need to buy.
Being aware of the tricks of Christmas marketing often helps defend against them.
This is the value of metacognition, or thinking about thinking.
When we make our brain analyze itself, we begin to observe and mold our own behaviors accordingly.
Here's how we can use these strategies to make rational purchasing decisions.
Christmas shopping