Published in El Pais, 21 October 2020.
Last week Amazon held its famous Prime Day special exclusive for Prime members. As the day approached, marketing increased and so too did everyone’s excitement (myself included). When the day finally came, I went to the app and what I found was nothing more than disappointment. There was nothing that I wanted and many of the discounts were minimal. After searching at different departments for any sort of deal I had given up.
After getting over this sadness it finally dawned on me, Amazon’s marketing was so successful that I was desperate to spend on their store on things that I would not have otherwise purchased. I even went so far as to try to justify buying some things thinking it would be nice to have.
Now I must point out this is not a smear job on Amazon, quite the contrary I am really impressed by what they have done even if it was to convince me to unnecessarily spend my money. They of course are not the only ones. We have all seen the chaotic footage of shoppers in the U.S on Black Friday. We are trained to look for reasons to shop, but is it really a deal if we bought something we would not have otherwise purchased?
The fact is if someone buys something for 20% off it means they spent 80% that they would not have spent. That does not mean there is no such thing as a good deal, it is just we should we be asking ourselves before buying something on sale, “would I still want it if it was not on sale?” if the answer is no then you should not be buying it.
Of course, many enjoy the shopping experience itself and that is fair, and many would say they buy it on sale because they cannot afford it at regular price, also fair, but we should not be disappointed when a sale does not present itself with anything for us. Do not be afraid to walk away with a full wallet and an empty bag.
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