Amazon justify impulse buys

Happy Black Friday to all who celebrate.

A day dedicated to consumerism is the epitome of what it means to be an American. Back in the day, people would get trampled to death in malls. I’d venture to guess that many people nowdo most of their black Friday shopping from their couch. The wonders of technology abound.

I’m not a big shopper. Other than the occasional vintage band t shirt, new dickies, and Vans, I struggle to come up with a wishlist for my birthday or the holidays. I generally have what I want, which is a blessing.

Many people love to shop on Black Friday though. A recent survey from NPR said shoppers are planning to spend an average of $771. Now to be fair, I don’t know how many people they surveyed, but that’s a substantial chunk of change.

This made me think about people who might impulsively buy things because “it’s on sale”. I think the concept of sales has changed a lot in the past few decades. It’s not so much a special event to save money as it is a lever companies can pull to dynamically drive more customers to buy. Maybe I’m pessimistic.

What if there was a way to curb impulse purchases? For example, anything over a specific dollar amount could require you to get approval from others. I think this might be a feature that, while annoying, could help curb unhealthy shopping behaviors. Improperly implemented, it would make a lot of people mad.

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