A new phenomenon of drunken shopping is benefiting online merchants, Retail Wire reports. Author: Elizabeth Smythe
A new phenomenon of drunken shopping is benefiting online merchants, Retail Wire reports.
It would appear that an increasing number of people are logging on to the internet, browsing virtual shops and making an online payment, after having consumed alcohol.
American ecommerce firm ChannelAdvisor has noticed a rise in the amount of late-night shopping and that some businesses are cashing in, starting online sales after 9pm to take advantage of this new market.
Andy Page of New York-based Gilt Groupe said his company often started promotions in the evening as a result: “Post-bar, inhibitions can be impacted and that can cause shopping and hopefully healthy impulse buying.”
Owning a smart phone has contributed to the rise in booze-fuelled purchasing, with many consumers actually forgetting that they’ve even bought an item.
Case in point is Tiffany Whitten of Ohio, who told The New York Times her most recent ‘tipsy purchase’ was a phone cover: “I was drunk and I bought it, and I forgot about it and it showed up in the mail and I was really excited.”
Or pity Australian, Chris Tansey, whose frenzied drunken shopping encounter resulted in him buying a $10,000 motorbike and a tour of New Zealand.
Explaining the behaviour, Kristin A. Baylor, professor of psychiatry at Baylor University said: “When you’re loading things you can’t feel or touch into this fake cart, you don’t have a sense of ‘I’m buying all this stuff, I’m buying too much.’ It takes you away from the actual spending-money experience.”
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