Tips on how to resist holiday sales and the importance of shopping local

The psychological impact of sales Chamber of Commerce advises consumers to resist impulse buying and emphasizes the importance of shopping locally to support the economy.

Heather Thomson with the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison to explain the psychology of a deal and how to spend mindfully this holiday season.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kent Morrison: There’s certainly no question, finding a deal and paying less feels good. However, the impulse to capitalize on a sale can cost us in the long run. We are bombarded between Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day coming up with texts, emails, social media and marketing to us that we have to take advantage of these deals. Why is that such a popular and strong strategy for companies?

Heather Thomson: Well, it’s not a new strategy, let’s start with that. Around the holidays, businesses make about a third of their sales in about a five-week period. We start to see the promotions for the holiday spending coming earlier and earlier. I think back-to-school shopping is done, and then we’re right into the holiday promotion. It really goes down to the scarcity mindset, that’s what we’re doing here. I think a lot of organizations keep doing it because it works, and I think a lot of people think, “If I don’t get in on this deal now, I missed it.” Especially right now, with this economic climate, people are looking for deals. That whole, “I need to get something on sale, or get on this promotion,” mindset really works with the consumer right now.

Kent: How do we fight that? Because you can get into a space where you’re buying something because it’s on sale, but you don’t necessarily need it. How do we fight against that as a consumer?

Heather: It’s a psychological thing. If you would buy it if it’s not on sale, then don’t buy it if it is on sale. That’s one of those things where there’s sometimes really good deals to be had, and that’s where consumers can do research. That’s what’s great about us using the internet now. You can actually see when something is a good deal versus when something is actually a quick little markdown to get you to purchase it, and then a lot of times, its final sale. It’s a win for the company as well. I think one of those things that consumers need to see is, “Is this something that I was going to buy anyways and now I can save money?” Versus, “Oh, I like it more because it’s on sale.”

Kent: Is there a concern when you do research that you’re going to get bombarded with more advertisements for that product? How do you balance that?

Heather: Those are those tricky algorithms, right? We mention something, then all of a sudden it’s on our social media feed and all those different points of advertising. I think one of those things you can do is just stop paying attention to it. Stop searching for it. I think there’s the link between all of our accounts where if we start looking for something, we’re going to start to see advertising. That’s how sophisticated social media is now, and that’s how the majority of Canadians are getting their advertising and getting their promotions for items. There’s a lot more work on the consumer to steer clear of that. It isn’t as simple as fast forwarding through the commercials anymore. We are inundated with these things, and we aren’t even aware of it. As social media and advertising is, it’s so new. It’s the new medium of how we’re getting our information. We don’t know what this is going to look like in terms of rules and regulations as we head into the future, because right now, it is pretty seamless, and it’s quite tricky.

Kent: I know you’ve studied the GST holiday that just came in over the weekend. What do people need to know about that?

Heather: I’ll say this on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, definitely shop local. That’s going to make a huge difference for our economy right now. I think anytime we’re looking at a consumption tax and we’re not using it as we should be, there is a large economic impact. I think it might seem really good for the consumer right now, but I think we need to make sure that the consumers are spending in the way that’s going to make sure that this GST holiday has a larger impact for the local economy. Right now, on a balance, this GST holiday, from an economic standpoint, isn’t that great.