Why People Buy the Stuff They Buy

Choice Overload

I was walking along one of those huge supermarkets today when I made a few interesting observations.

There were a few elderly lady that were simply staring at 1001 different types of can food displayed on the ceiling high shelves.

All of them seemed to be deep in thought and had no idea which to buy. I was standing there and wondering what was going through their heads. What would make them choose one product over another?

Logic Versus Emotions : The Psychology of Buying

Can you remember what was the last item that you bought recently? Was it today? Good!

Now think about the thought processes that went through your head as you made the decision to buy that item.

I believe that certain factors compels us to buy something. However, I believe that LOGIC has nothing to do with it. When it comes to buying stuff, people are totally not logical. Even the most logical person that you know of will become illogical when it comes to spending his money.

I made another interesting observation:

Ever noticed that a 1.5 L bottle of softdrink is sold at say $1.40 while a 0.5L bottle is sold at $1.10 . One just has to pay 30cents more to get 3 times the amount of soft drink.

However, you will most probably find people choosing the 0.5L bottle as it is simply more convenient to carry around. This is especially so if they are not heading home straight and they're just looking for something to quench their thirst.

In the above example, we can clearly see that people buy things based on a host of factors and not based on price and value for money alone. It is what I would term the "psychology of buying".

It is my view that when it comes to buying, people often buy based on emotions and not on logic.
I hope to expand further on this post at some later date.

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