Retailers are using sneaky tactics to trick you into impulse buys

While shopping online on the Sunday night before Cyber Monday, I suddenly was shocked to see that a major retail chain only had a few pairs of Dockers pants left in my son’s size and his next-best color options. The No. 1 color choice in his size or anything close was already sold out.
Really?
It’s possible, given that I spotted that similarly skimpy quantities existed when I checked on those pants on Cyber Monday morning. But frankly, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I ended up buying two pairs, different styles, sizes and colors, of what was available — I had $5 in Kohl’s cash that was expiring Sunday night after all.
The holiday shopping rush intensifies when consumers face any kind of shortage. That’s why you’re bound to see some retailing websites “inform you that there’s only five of an item left, that a lot of other people have it in their carts, or that an item is selling really fast,” according to an alert about holiday marketing tricks from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group or PIRG.
We’re seeing way more information on how few items are left in stock online, according to consumer watchdogs, as we shop for Christmas gifts in 2024.
Holiday deals: Shop this season’s top products and sales curated by our editors.
Shoppers who watch QVC see the same thing on TV and online. “Hurry, going fast! 124 shoppers have purchased this in the past 24 hours,” according to an online alert Monday morning for Skechers water repellent, pull-on, suede boots offered in five colors and priced at $59.98 during the Cyber Sale.
If something is a hot seller or the stock is running low, PIRG notes, consumers are likely to end up thinking that they better pull out that credit card before it’s too late.
When you feel under pressure, you’re less likely to step back and ask: “Is spending $60 the best deal I could find on short boots?”
You’re clearly going to feel way too rushed to even mentally review of your own inventory and realize: “Hey, I just bought short suede boots two months ago.”
The scarcity pitch is much like those online countdown timers. Who doesn’t get a bit nervous seeing that they only have an hour or so left to make up their mind and knock another gift off the list?
“It makes it that much harder to think clearly,” PIRG noted.
More:’Buy now, pay later’: Worth the risk? The hidden details that shoppers should know
More:Cyber Monday isn’t just another Monday to those scrambling for even more deals
Face it, we’re all exhausted during the final weeks of 2024.
For many, jobs are on the line, as some major companies announce more big layoffs or store closings. We just experienced yet another contentious presidential election — and some tensions may be higher at work or family gatherings.
We’re overstretched 24/7 nearly every day of the year. We do our jobs and add on extra duties required by our short-staffed employers, pack sandwiches to avoid high-priced fast food, take care of loved ones, drive elderly family members to the doctor, make sure to arrive on time for a child’s game or concert, do laundry, make or buy cookies for the bake sale, and on and on.
And yes, we’ve trying to keep a lid on spending now that many prices are higher than they used to be. We’ve got the busyness of the holidays to pile on even more to-dos onto the list and more stress.
So, if you think you’ll never find another pair of Dockers on sale in the right size, well, you might buy two pairs.
Signs of a shortage can be spotted anywhere. J. Crew online, for example, had a “Cyber Deal” on Monday for a red roll-neck sweater with hearts woven into the pattern. Sale price: $29.50 — which the site indicated is 63% off the $79.50 list price. But once you clicked on the sizes many different sizes were marked with a link saying: “Out of stock in this color — Notify me.”
R.J. Cross, campaign director for PIRG, told me during a phone conversation that she would imagine that when a store says it’s out of stock, the retailer could be indeed out of stock. After all, a retailer could lose money if they don’t have a particular item. You might not be willing to buy something else.
She’s more concerned when online sellers state how much is left in stock or use some vague phrase like, “selling fast.”
“If you go on Etsy right now almost every single listing has some tag about how fast something is selling or how many people have something in their cart,” Cross said. “There are these big red tags that kind of can be a little anxiety inducing.”
She almost jumped to buy a calendar on the Sunday before Cyber Monday when one notice indicated that only five of the design that she was considering were left for sale. But she decided to sleep on it anyway, noting that she tries to not make late-night purchases.
When she woke up the next day, guess what? There were still five calendars left, she said.
Someone selling candles online indicated that 270 shoppers had the item in their carts right now, which she said might make a purchase sound urgent. But what if that seller had 5,000 candles to start? Hardly a reason to rush.
As shoppers, Cross told me, we don’t know how many people will actually buy an item anyway when they’ve selected it and placed it in a shopping cart online.
She recalls looking at Title Nine leggings online about two weeks ago. The website said the fleece-lined tights were “Selling Fast.” And two weeks later? All five colors, she said, were still available and marked “selling fast.”
In this case, she said, the site tagged the whole listing as selling fast — every single color, style and size — which can prompt a “panic buy, even if it’s actually only one of the 65+ variations that is actually ‘selling fast.'”
“Selling fast? Compared to what?” Cross asked. “It doesn’t really tell you anything.”
Such online sales tactics fuel the adrenaline. “Like you have to make a purchase right then and there or else miss out,” Cross said.
“The problem is that as an online shopper,” the PIRG report noted, “there’s no way for you to guarantee that that scarcity is real. Numbers can be presented out of context making things seem much more urgent than they are. Maybe 20 people have that coffee maker in their carts, but only an average of one person a week is actually buying it and the store has 100 in stock.”
If you’re shopping in a store, you can see that there are 10 sweaters of the same color on the shelf and plenty in your size. You might be willing to shop around some and come back when you know this is a good deal.
Or it’s possible to ask a sales associate at a store in the mall if more sweaters in a particular size or color might be available in the backroom or even at another location in the area. Conversations flow fairly easily in person about how to find something that you can’t spot on the shelves, especially if the store isn’t overrun with customers.
Not so much with online shopping.
Cross’s advice: Ignore the online noise and notices. Recognize a high pressure sales tactic and take a chance that the item will still be in stock once you’ve thought about it a bit. It’s a good idea, she said, to make looking for a gift and actually buying a gift two separate activities. Give yourself time and space to make sure that you’re buying the right gift at the right price.
“Keep your Zen this holiday season,” Cross said.
“Stores are always trying to get you to buy more than you need and spend more than you want,” she said. “And the holiday shopping season is no exception.”
Veteran shoppers learned years ago that you must question whether a sale price is really a good deal. We see the original price on an item, which might seem legitimate, but the reality is many times an item is featured on one sale or another several times throughout the year.
So, how much are you really saving today?
Now, cyber shoppers need to question if the stock for a given item really has a chance at running low. What are the real odds? And if it is gone when you come back, well, take a deep breath and click somewhere else.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter) @tompor.