So, I go to a women’s college. And if you’re reading this, chances are, you do, too.
What does this mean? Besides all of the fantastic liberal arts benefits, the abundance of stunning short haircuts and women’s activism, it translates that our dorms probably house about twice as many pairs of shoes as a coed college of the same size.
What can we say? We’re well dressed, and proud of it.
However, being the intelligent Mount Holyoke students (Mohos) we are, it’s our job to be savvy – and a lot of current shopping trends are subtle. With a little reading, we can become wise wizards of retail.
Many Mohos come from countries that haven’t fully developed online shopping – this, combined with the fact that South Hadley isn’t exactly an urban epicenter, has led to hours spent lolling around in dorms; looking at cute skirts from Forever21 and American Apparel. Then, add in “shopping momentum” – the phenomenon that once a shopper buys one item, there’s an “increasing likelihood” that she’ll continue purchasing whatever catches her eye, and a lot of packages coming through Auxiliary Services.
How does this work? Researchers at Stanford, Yale, and Duke University discovered that shopping is a two-step process. First, someone decides whether or not to buy the first item (pros and cons). However, after the shopper makes the choice to buy, they spend less time and energy reviewing future purchases on the same shopping trip.
First purchase = Big Credit Card Bill+ All the Other Stuff That Looked Cool + Headache
Other obstacles? Cookies, the non-edible kind, and new-fangled price tags. Browser cookies and account data allow online retailers to track how many times your view an item, so they can raise the price on items you really want. Similarly, the electronic price tags you see in grocery stores and Walmarts aren’t just for efficiency – when store traffic increases, like in the 6:00 p.m. rush, prices rise. Lesson: delete cookies, and beware of when you shop.
Looking for more ways to rule the bank? It turns out that you spend more when you buy using things that don’t look or feel like money (cough cough, those plastic credit cards that feel nothing like our cotton-linen greenbacks). The technical explanation for this is “decoupling of the purchase from the pain of payment.” The really interesting part is that the average Jane, will pay for things you deem “fun” with credit cards, while paying for necessities and the mundane with cash.
When I went home for Thanksgiving, I bought the alluring but way too expensive airport foods with my debit card, but paid the shuttle fare back to campus in cash. The mysterious and dastardly world of marketing tells us that this is because when we buy with our shiny plastic, we evaluate the benefits of what we’re buying, whereas when we pay cash, we look at the costs.
So, my fellow Mohos, beware of the vendors in Blanchard – unless you really need to buy a Chef Jeff cookie.
Interested in more? Here’s some the research that didn’t fit into my post:
Black Friday isn’t Such a Big Deal
Cellphone Signals Track Where You Shop
Related posts:
- Cookies on Campus
- Students Engage On the State of the Union
- Read between the lines: Stuff Mount Holyoke People Like
- Track and Field Invitational
- Clothes for a Cause
So true!
Yes, after first purchase, viewing sale items before checkout
usually makes me add another thing…can’t pass up a good buy!