Modern business marketing methods are very skillful, and will constantly guide you to spend, and you unconsciously pay valuable time and money. To avoid becoming a "wealth killer", you need to learn to be wary of the following 4 ways of thinking.
With the development of social economy, business means are also constantly upgrading. Many businesses are proficient in using the principles of psychology to take advantage of human weaknesses to guide consumers to buy things they simply don't need. And the behavior of these businesses often catches people off guard, which in turn makes consumers poorer and poorer. Here are four ways of thinking so that readers can better understand the routines used by merchants and spend more wisely when it comes to spending.
Mindset 1: Consumer surplus.
The same thing, in different places, will have different values. Many people go to IKEA and buy some small things, after all, they have come here, and they can't go back empty-handed, right? For example, 149 yuan for 5 mugs. By the way, I bought mugs and other small things because of other high-priced items in the store, 149 yuan to buy 6 mugs, which is many times more cost-effective than them.
However, if you find a mug of the same style in a treasure, it will only cost 39 yuan, and you may not need a new mug. Obviously, the same thing has different reference backgrounds, and it often highlights different values. From a psychological point of view, this phenomenon is called "reference dependence", that is, when we judge gains and losses, we tend to consider reference points rather than objective values. What affects our decision-making is not the actual value of the commodity, but the surplus of consumers.
Marshall once pointed out that the amount a person is willing to pay for a certain product ultimately depends on his psychological expectations, not the actual selling price of the product. Buying a mug for 149 yuan at IKEA, instead of spending 59 yuan on **, is because there is more consumer surplus at IKEA. This is also the reason why luxury brands can always rely on "high-end atmosphere to attract attention." People often have a "vanity mentality" and are willing to pay more for fame and image, which also allows merchants to sell the same goods at a higher price.
Mindset 2: Anchor should.
Why do people care more about the order of appearance when facing the product? When ordering in the menu, we will find that the ** in it is often arranged from high to low. Consumer psychology research has found that if merchants rank prices from highest to lowest, then consumers are more likely to buy better products.
When observing consumers buying beer in nightclubs, the University of Colorado's marketing team once conducted an experiment and observed it for 18 weeks. There are two types of wine lists in their chosen nightclub, one is the beer ** from high to low, and the other is ** low to high. The waiter then quietly recorded the purchase of beer by consumers, and a total of 1,195 bottles of beer were sold. It was found that the average price of beer purchased by low-to-high menu consumers was 5$78, while the average price for a beer from a high-to-low menu is $602 US dollars, the latter is 0 more than the average price$24.
The principle behind this phenomenon is the "anchoring effect". When we make judgments about something, we are usually influenced by first impressions. Merchants often start with a low-priced product that consumers feel is the "lowest value available". Then, let consumers have a good impression of the first product and improve their purchase likelihood. Different grades are placed in different positions, and there are different emotional subtexts, which induce and guide customers to consume.
Mindset 3: The herd effect.
Many times, we don't trust our own judgment and listen to the voices around us. The less information you have, the more likely you are to exhibit obvious herd behavior and thus be persuaded by the behavior of a large number of people. When you join the ranks of the herd, it will also give you a "buy more, get more" impulse to spend. For example, many people go to discount malls to buy clothes, and when they see a long queue in front of the cash register, they often can't help but stuff a few more items into the shopping. This is known as the "herd effect".
Why do queues lead to more shopping? Because when we consume, we invest not only the cost of money, but also the cost of time. In the process of teaming, consumers feel that they have put in a lot of time and energy, so they often want to turn this cost into tangible gains. Maybe they feel that the time in line is expensive, and correspondingly, it can reduce the cost per unit of queue time by buying more goods.
Thinking mode 4: endowment effect.
This phenomenon refers to the fact that after owning an item, the individual will rate the value of the item more than before he or she did not own it. Just like many parents think that their children are the cutestest, because from a certain point of view, children are products created by their parents, and the more effort they put in, the higher their evaluation of him. In the same way, when we spend more time and money on a certain item, we tend to rate it higher.
In addition, many businesses like to engage in activities such as "free tastings and free trials for a limited time", especially on the Internet, where almost all the best products are free at the beginning. This is to unconsciously pay the cost of behavior in the consumer, so that they can produce affirmation of the product. When you pay a certain cost to your behavior, you will think that the item is valuable and buy it further. Merchants will also create some successful experiences and satisfaction for consumers by providing DIY and other methods, and cultivate loyalty.
In general, the routines of merchants have a point, which is to take advantage of consumers' psychological weaknesses to serve their own business interests. Be wary of the 4 ways of thinking mentioned above, and you will no longer be easy to listen to merchants. At the same time, you'll be able to spend wisely, without spending too much time and money, and avoid being a "wealth killer".