Planning out purchases based on needs and budgets may be the norm, but three out of four Americans have a dirty little secret when it comes to shopping: making impulse purchases.
That’s according to a new survey released by CreditCards.com. That survey also revealed that mental state seems to have a whole lot to do with motivating the urge to impulse buy.
During a telephone survey of 1,000 adult Americans during the month of November, 75% of respondents told polltakers they had made an impulse purchase. Of those who said they occasionally caved in to urges, 16% admitted to spending $500 or more and 10% said they had spent roughly $1,000 or more.
To get a feel for what might motivate impulse buying, pollsters asked respondents about their state of mind when they made purchases. Impulse buyers reported:
- They were excited (49%)
- They were bored (30%)
- They were sad (22%)
- They were angry (9%)
- They were intoxicated (9%)
Impulse buys were about equal between men and women, though there were some behavioral differences based on gender.
Men were more likely to buy bigger, more costly items on an impulse, being much more likely than women to spend $1,000 or more. Women tended to keep their impulsive purchases to less than $25.
Men were also more likely to say they were drinking when they made an impulse purchase, roughly 13% to women’s 5%.
Emotional impulse buys, however, were more common with women. Feeling sad led to 28% of female respondents’ impulse purchases. Only 14% of men said sadness motivated them to make a purchase.
Survey results also showed a sharp difference in impulse buying habits based on age. Seniors (age 65 and older) were much less likely to make an impulse buy. About four of 10 seniors said they’d never made an impulse purchase, compared to only one out of 10 respondents ages 18 to 29.
CreditCards.com pollsters say they were surprised by the universality of impulse buying. The habit, the survey revealed, cuts across genders, age groups, geographic locations and even political parties.
Remorse was another factor that many respondents had in common. Roughly half of all impulse buyers said they did regret their purchases at one time or another.
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