The next time you feel the need to pop an Aspirin or down a stiff drink, you might want to consider another remedy to numb the pain: rifling through some greenbacks.
The tech-savvy Generation Y shopper assumes quite a lot: Tons and tons of choices will be a few quick clicks away, the shipping will be free, there will be online customer ratings at their disposal, and so on. Exactly what, where, how, and why do these consumers buy, and how are retailers reacting to the [...]
Basically, commercials are trying to sell us a feeling, a “lifestyle.” They’re playing off of our insecurities and desires—spreading the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) message that our lives would be better if only we had that new fabric softener or smartphone.
In consumer psychologist Kathleen Vohs’s studies, she found that reminding people of the money they have spent heightens feelings of pain.
