See your purchase history on all e-commerce sites you’ve visited and shopped with for the past six months, how has your online shopping affected your finances? We bet you’ve gone quite far with your online shopping the past months.
The ease and convenience of online shopping come with a few repercussions to your spending and shopping habits. If you’re already prone to impulsive buying whenever you roam around malls or pass by physical stores, chances are this habit will translate, for better or worse, when shopping online.
How do you know if your online shopping habit has become an addiction? We’ve listed here 6 of the most common signs that imply your online shopping has gone too far. If you nodded “yes” to each of them, it’s time to cure this obsession and get serious with your finances.
Every celebration or event urges you to shop online
Valentine’s Day? Bought a new dress for the occasion. Promotion at work? That deserves a new valuable watch. Going back to the gym? This calls for new gym wear and training shoes. Whatever event comes, you’re ready to spend and reward yourself for it. But is it healthy?
It’s an absolute must to treat yourself from time to time and reward yourself for achieving your goals. However, it’s important to know when a reward is much-deserved.
You know your credit card number by heart
You don’t need to take your credit card out to enter the number on the site for you have already memorized it by heart—a telltale sign that you go online shopping frequently. Before you push thru with your transaction and complete the payment details as your reflexes type in your credit card number, review your purchases or better yet, cancel your order if you suddenly realize you’re making an impulse decision.
You shop when stressed
Bad day at work? Movie and dine-out treat. Had a rough day at home or a conflict with your SO? Time to browse online and check out new lipstick shades from your favorite brand for a quick “pick-me-upper”.
Retail therapy is called as it is for a reason—it gives shoppers a sense of euphoria they can only get from making purchases especially when they’re going through setbacks and stress.
You don’t remember the last time you tried anything at a store
When was the last time you went to a mall and roam around the isles of the department store or numerous physical stores? If you’ve forgotten the sense of physical shopping, you might want to step out of the house and roam there instead since it’s a lot more difficult to make impulsive purchases in the real world as opposed to online stores where you can see and compare everything in an instant.
You think that if it’s on sale, you’re saving a ton
This thinking also reflects in physical stores. As soon as you walk in the store or in the mall, you see the large red sign “SALE” and next thing you remember, you’re inside the store browsing what they have to offer that you probably don’t need at the moment. In the e-commerce world, you can see everything on sale in just a few minutes without exerting any effort (i.e. walking around, carrying a basket of items).
You see, you’re still spending a lot than you save even when it’s on sale, and especially if you don’t need any of the items on sale. You’ll save distinctively more if you skip the ‘sale’. Think about that.
No matter how much you spend, you try to justify it
Purchasing a couple new products to try and incorporate into your skincare routine whilst you still have a handful to empty is not the way to financial success. And making excuses just to justify the need to purchase a new item means you’ve gone too far with this spending habit.
Online shopping truly is convenient. However, you should resist yourself from impulsive urges as it could badly affect your finances in the long run. Everything has its limitation, set yours.
About the author: When she couldn’t be found eating pizza or indulging on sweets, Chie writes for Zapals — a global shopping site that sells anything and everything you need under the sun.