Mind Over Money: How Your Brain Regulates Your Shopping Choices

From Guest Blogger Mahrukh Khizar

Imagine walking into Zara. As a popular fast fashion chain, Zara is the place to purchase a dress. Immediately, your brain connects with the store. 

Your eyes catch on a rack towards the front of the store. The bright lights add a pleasurable feeling to your shopping experience. The slow music makes you feel good and slows your progress through the store. You look to see the time, but there is no clock. 

Your brain responds to all of the mental stimuli that the store triggers. The slow-tempo music triggers the release of oxytocin, which can cause you to feel more at ease and relaxed. Meanwhile, very bright lighting heightens your emotional states and causes you to become more alert about the brand and quality of products. The lack of clocks affects the part of your brain involved in measuring time, known as temporal distortion, making you feel blissfully unaware of your duration of shopping. 

You grab a dress but as soon as you go to the cash register, it is no longer fun.

Actually, the more time that you spend in a store, the more money that you tend to spend. According to a study from Bangor University, during the first 20 minutes of shopping, we use the cognitive part of the brain involved in good decision-making. However, after those 20 minutes, shoppers tend to start using the emotional part of their brain to make purchases. The switch in neural activity results in consumers struggling to consider prices and makes all of us more vulnerable to clever marketing techniques. After 40 minutes, the brain shuts down. 

Finally, at the cash register, reality sinks in. When considering the hefty total of your shopping spree, your insula activates, which is a part of your brain associated with pain and regret. 

In fact, your brain’s chemical reactions control your shopping experience more than you realize. At Zara, they even shift your demand curve to the right. When we feel continuously good about our shopping experience and spend more time–and money–shopping, our brain’s neural processes decide our demand for clothing. 

From bright lighting to slow-tempo music, retail stores like Zara use marketing techniques that trigger chemical reactions in the brain that fuel your purchases. So the next time you swipe your card, think about how your brain controls your shopping experience and wallet more than you may initially realize. It also shifts your demand curve. 

References:

• https://www.thaliacapos.com/blogs/blog/the-power-of-melody-and-rhythm-how-music-affects-our-brain#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20upbeat%20music%20with,sense%20of%20calm%20and%20relaxation.
• https://thehustle.co/originals/why-you-almost-never-see-a-clock-at-the-mall?hubs_content=thehustle.co%2F&hubs_content-cta=Why%20you%20almost%20never%20see%20a%20clock%20at%20the%20mall
• https://www.retailbiz.com.au/technology/av-lighting/4-ways-store-lighting-influences-customers/
• https://www.choicehacking.com/2021/03/03/what-is-temporal-distortion/