Overview

Duration: May 2024-Aug. 2023, updates from 2024/5

Problem

Many people struggle with online impulse shopping. It can be detrimental to one’s finances and mental health. Often times, the user does not recognize the many ways they are being coaxed into making unnecessary purchases. Moreover, the user might not understand the underlying mental health issues driving their shopping addiction further. Users want to be able to curb their spending to save and not over-spend on unneeded items.

In researching the topic of impulse buying, I found an abundance of articles and studies related to the matter. I wrote an article on the topic that I published on the Medium and will detail some of my findings below.

A study by Cambridge University (CU) in 2019 titled “Buying-shopping disorder — is there enough evidence to support its inclusion in ICD-11?” by Müller et al. investigated the possibility of impulse buying being considered a medical disease, specifically to be included in the next edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

The research of Sang-Hee Sohn & Yun-Jung Choi titled “Phases of Shopping Addiction Evidenced by Experiences of Compulsive Buyers” will also be covered to accompany the findings of the Cambridge study.

The CU findings detail that buying-shopping disorder (BSD) has been identified as an issue for at least 100 years in psychiatric literature, but has been largely ignored as an official illness for its supposed lack of research.

Researched in populations worldwide, BSD is a phenomena whereby a person is unable to control their excessive buying behaviour. They are continuously unable to pay their debts and cannot recognize that their spending habits are creating negative consequences for themselves and others (Müller et al., 375). It is especially prevalent in “developing consumer societies” (Müller et al., 375).

An episode of BSD is usually triggered by a negative event and the buying is used to escape or relieve negative feelings. However, at a certain point BSD becomes the “primary response to negative events and feelings” (Sohn and Choi 244; Müller et al., 375). This is what is called “retail therapy” or the beginning phase of the addiction (Müller et al., 375).

These purchases, which the person is unable to control, can be followed by regret. Moreover, the things purchased during these episodes are usually not used.

People with BSD often suffer from other comorbidities (more than one mental illness at once) such as depression, substance abuse, avoidance, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Müller et al., 376). Those with BSD are also said to “experience higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and negative feelings than their counterparts in the general population” (Sohn and Choi, 250).

Sohn and Choi have identified five stages to what the CU study calls BSD:

Redesigned version parts of Table 1 and Figure 1 from Sohn and Choi page 247, 250

As we can see from the work of Sohn and Choi:

• the process of becoming addicted to purchasing things is gradual. Each stage carries with it several negative feelings and states as the root (Sohn and Choi, 247).

• The study lists many Codes for each of the phases to reveal to the reader the mindset behind the actions as they progress further into the addiction.

• The key feelings in each stage of the addiction is first a negative feeling and the want to escape these feelings.

• It then builds into using buying as a means of control, reaching a point where people are unable to pay their debts.

• Then the person is anxious if they cannot purchase certain items and are buying recklessly.

• Finally, the person shops constantly, thinks about shopping, are unwell if they do not shop and shopping is their primary response to any negative situation.

While researching people’s experiences on impulse purchases, I find that the literature confirms their experiences. People who impulse purchase have indeed felt a lack of control and negative feelings in their life as exemplified by the user below.

Reddit

After conducting research into the symptoms, causes and possible remedies of shopping addiction I started forming some features that a Chrome extension might be able to provide to a user to curb their addiction or at the least create some strategies for users.

Using the research on shopping addiction and ideation for possible solutions that the chrome extension can provide, here its corresponding persona. 

Photo by cottonbro studio

You’ll notice that the majority of slogans or premises on shopping extensions are that they will “get the best price”, “find you deals” or “help you save” all the while encouraging the user to buy, which is quite counter-intuitive to saving.

Honey allows the user to gather promo codes and get money off of their purchases. It also tracks the prices of certain items and notifies the users. The same goes for Cently, Rakuten and other extensions.

Amazon Assistant is an extension that notifies users of deals and price comparison for similar items from different retailers. The same goes from CNET Shopping, PriceBlink, The Camelizer and more.

All these extensions are marketed to the user as ones that will help them save their money, rather than going to the root of the issue.

These extensions are focused on acquiring more while saving little, rather than saving completely.

In searching for some similar extensions, I was hard pressed to find extensions that had all the features I had arrived to in one, as well as ones that were used by a large user base (as of 2023). 

Description:

• “Spend Less detects when you’re on a seller’s website.”

• “Spend Less delivers beautiful, motivational, and informative messages that help you become more aware of the sales funnel and marketing hacks being used on you.”

• “If the website is where you want to be, simply dismiss the message and Spend. Less won’t interrupt you again during your session on the website.”

• “If you’ve realized you’ve been sucked into   just another sales funnel though, Spend Less will send you somewhere beautiful and interesting instead (where nobody is trying to take your money).”

Strengths:

• Notifies users of deceptive marketing

• Sends users encouraging words not to spend

• Sends users to a different website if you wish

 Weaknesses:

• You can turn off the ‘dialogue’ the extension provides only after one time on any given website

• The encouraging words are likely to be repeated

In the beginning of searching for a brand identity, I wanted to think of something friendly that could dialogue with the user and accompany them through their browser. 

I wanted to find an animal that was slow. It would represent the purpose of the extension which would be to make purchases slowly and save money. 

After thinking of three common slow animals, I tried finding synonyms for being frugal. 

I then chose the ones that are most familiar in meaning to the general public and last finding one that I could use illiterate with an animal.  

I settled on Tactful Turtle with the turtles name being Tito. A plus was that turtles are green, as money is often associated with that color. 

Coupled with the turtle, I also used the fable of the turtle and the hare to make the slogan for the extension.

The extension research has shown the extensions contain the essence of what an ideal extension that should deter its user from shopping should have.

However, each of them are incomplete either in features or may become redundant over time.

By having AI able to dialogue with the user, armed with psychological research, countless tips as well as several methods of deterrence, there is a much better chance that the user will benefit from it rather than remove it from its installations over time.

I began to sketch out possible menu paths especially for the settings of the extension since that is where the user will spend a considerable amount of time.

From the pop up of the extension the user is able to go into their additional settings and other features.

Upon downloading the extension, the user must input their wants and needs list. 

In order for the AI to recognize items, the AI would have to be fed a large variety of items that are shopped for. If the AI cannot recognize what the user wrote the user can enter that word into Tito’s lexicon to be reviewed and added to its official lexicon.

Otherwise, the user can simply list their item with a broad term like ‘clothing’ or ‘stationary’ and the extension should be able to sense if or if not the website they have visited coincides with any category.

The user is able to edit their list at any time through their settings. However, the ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ list will not be able to be turned off as it is an essential component of the extension.

Other than the main permissions, the user can enable some extra ones. Extras being allowing the extension to use sound alerts or alert the user of sale’s on the website to deter them. 

Additionally, the user would be able to add the contact of a third party for someone to hold them accountable. If the user blocks a website and wishes to unblock it, the third party will need to give them the four digit code they receive.

This exercise is most probably one of my favourite of the bunch so far. It is always important to stop and think of the actions we are going through with. Being mindful is a method of pulling oneself out of mindless actions. By providing users and consumers with a way to pull themselves out of an addiction or proclivity they may not even realize they have, they can begin to live a healthier life.

I would like to be able to involve users and conduct research among self-proclaimed impulsive shoppers to to see if the features and the extension as a whole would benefit them. Additionally, it would be fun to continue and get to prototyping.