On Giving In to Cyber Monday

Do you have plans to hunt out a good deal online tomorrow?

In case you haven’t noticed, Cyber Monday is kind of a thing. How big of a thing? It’s the US’s biggest online shopping day, according to Adobe Analytics. Online sales for Cyber Monday in 2018 amounted to $7.9 billion USD!!!! An average day of online sales is only around $1.4 billion.  89% of Canadians made an online purchase on Cyber Monday in 2017, compared to 67% on Black Friday.

Is Cyber Monday a ploy to get you to spend, spend, spend? Um… YES!

Cyber Monday’s origins hale back to a 2005 campaign at shop.org as an answer to the call of Black Friday for online retailers. It has now surpassed Black Friday as the biggest shopping day of the year. Many online retailers will be offering great deals, all in attempts to capture your share of wallet from other sources as you bulk up your gift closet ahead of the holidays.

There are a lot of clever tactics at play on the part of retailers:

A Sense of Urgency.

When an item or opportunity is seen as scarce, we tend to see it as having more value. Limited quantity sales tend to be more motivating than limited-time offers. But why not both on Cyber Monday? One day only? Limited stock? 

Retailers create a false sense of urgency on Cyber Monday

The Free-er, The Better.

We love the word free. It tends to attract us more than an equivalent discount. Why? This word makes us feel happy. Free, sale and deal are all words that are associated with activating the reward centres in the brain. It can be strong enough to overwhelm our rational thinking ability. Being in this affective state makes us evaluate the free item more positively. But is anything ever really free?

Free = good. Free-er = better.

Social Media Influence.

Over 70% of consumers are more likely to buy a product based on a social media reference. And if you are a social-media-using-consumer, you’ll likely have seen your feed blowing up with ads or featured products from your favourite celebrities for Cyber Monday. We are, after all, a social species – and observing behaviours of others (especially from people we admire) guides us about what behaviours are considered right and appropriate. Everyone on your socials posting about Cyber Monday stuff? Chances are you will see it as more of a ‘thing’ and take part too.

You’re more likely to buy a product if its referenced on social media.

Are we just at the mercy of profit-hungry online retailers? Or is Cyber Monday actually good for us?

Lucky for us shoppers trying to get ahead on our Christmas shopping, Science has an answer. And that answer is… it’s okay to spree on Cyber Monday!!!*

*Within reason.

It’s OKAY to SPEND

Dan Ariely, Behavioural Economist Extraordinaire, argues that it’s okay to loosen the purse strings and celebrate Cyber Monday.

The reasoning behind this is similar to a Cheat Day: having a special day for indulgence seems to leave people’s general behaviour unchanged – but cheating on a normal day, well… that can lead to giving up on the diet altogether. So, go ahead and indulge in some shopping on Cyber Monday, understanding it’s a particular day, and you won’t continue to spend like this in the future.

The reason? There is a special social justification to spend. It is outside of your usual spending routine. It’s easy to categorize it as a different experience, rather than seeing it as reflective of how you operate on a regular basis.  

Dan Ariely adds that there is a hedonic element (i.e., luxury, not a necessity) to indulgence. Just like how people cheat with ice cream, it’s unlikely that you are using Cyber Monday to shop for a great deal on toilet paper. Retailers should tailor their ads accordingly.

So, yeah, if you are going to indulge, make a big deal about it.

Given that there is also Black Friday, Giving Tuesday, and Small Business Saturday, my advice would be to pick ONE to celebrate, hype up, and make special. Otherwise, your special day might turn into normal spending behaviour and leave you under budget heading into the holiday season.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

I pre-tested some tactics on myself this past week – for your benefit, of course. (I did my Cyber Monday shopping online on Black Friday).

1.    Be like Santa – make a list!

I made a shopping list of the big-ticket items I wanted to get and followed it precisely. I was not going to be taken advantage of by flashy deals! (It totally worked – the search bar is very helpful). The other thing this helps with is choice overload (when there are so many choices you get paralyzed and don’t make a decision), which is my usual shopping downfall. It felt excellent to check off a bunch of boxes on my list.

2.    Shop Around

It feels terrible to be swindled by a sense of urgency into going with the most immediate deal. It occurred to me that shopping online means I am not restricted by the geography of store location… I can shop around. I got a lot of pleasure out of making a bit of a strategy. For example, I accessed Amazon through the Aeroplan eStore to take advantage of their 5x points promotion, and also maximized our skating team's fundraising through FlipGive and free shipping through Prime. Plus, since I’m in no rush, I asked for the items to come in as few boxes as possible. The items arrived yesterday.

3.    Set A Timer

To prevent myself from getting distracted, I kept myself to a rough time limit. This time limit allowed some time for research, but in the end, I needed to make a decision. That helped me a lot!

My calculations suggest I spent around $400 - and saved at a rate of about 50% overall. #OnlineShoppingAchievementUNLOCKED

What if I am worried about spending too much on Cyber Monday? How do I prevent myself from overspending?

Great question. I found a neat 7 question self-evaluation checklist from Psychology Today here. For example, question 1 is, “Is what I bought an essential or a want?”

Do you find Black Friday/Cyber Monday a good time to get some pre-holiday deals, or a dangerous temptation beckoning your credit card? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Shopping!

Love,

Dr. D

PS: Here I am last year with the spoils of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sitting under the tree. I was proud of my bargain-hunting ability, but Duffy and Lacey seem ambivalent to say the least!