If you’ve ever found yourself suddenly buying an item you didn’t know you needed until you saw it, you’re not alone, as a new study finds Americans on average impulsively buy three things a week. In fact, Americans spend a whopping $324,000 on impulse purchases in their lifetime, according to this research.
From food items to new clothing, household items and takeout, the three impulse buys per week adds up to a remarkable 156 impulse purchases every year — more than 9,000 in a lifetime.
According to a study of 2,000 Americans conducted by market researchers OnePoll and commissioned by Slickdeals, people estimate they spend an average of $450 impulsively every month.
That adds up to $5,400 annually and, when projected over the average adult lifetime, means we part ways with $324,000 (!!!!) on impulse purchases.
According to those polled, roughly one out of every five purchases made (20 percent) is done impulsively, with food and groceries being the most commonly-bought impulse item, followed by clothing and household items.
One in four Americans have pulled the trigger on a nice pair of shoes after encountering them in a store and nearly three in four Americans (72 percent) have fallen victim to the alluring temptation of the candy that lives among store cash registers.
The Slickdeals study also found that 32 percent of people have impulsively bought food after catching a whiff from a nearby restaurant, and one in ten (11 percent) have actually taken a spontaneous vacation.
People said that they tend to impulse buy more when they’re happy and excited as opposed to sad or stressed, and, unsurprisingly, December turned out to be the biggest month of the year for impulse buying.
But be fooled into thinking people are just buying gifts for others, because the majority of impulse purchases tend to be for oneself, with 54 percent of impulse buys meant for number one.
So, what is the driving force behind buying something impulsively? The study found that the biggest reason (64 percent) for somebody making an impulse purchase to be that there’s a deal on that product.
