I am a lecturer. My field is Business & Marketing. So, when people talk about marketing tactics and strategies used by marketers to capture the desire of the customers..I 'should' know all those because that is what I been telling my students....those are merely tactics to induce sales..I used the word 'should' here because, since I knew it then i should have not fall into the trap...I learn all the theories but paradoxically I often found myself go home with armfull of shopping merchanidises that I labelled as 'must have', 'no harm buying', 'good price'..or..'the price is as much as my one time visit to the salon'...there you go..I'm making a comparison..when i start to make my comparison analysis, it means...DANGER
I'm always poorer by hundreds of ringgit everytime i step my foot out of the house..and now its even worst..i dont have to step out of the house, staying in bed with my ipad is good enough to empty my pocket..its not my fault..blame it to the technology :) My husband teased me 'if there is a shopping olympic..you will be the athelete" ! nahhh...amekawww
I'm just...just vulnerable and fragile human being whose heart is full of love..love for shopping..heehhh...but its true though, research in brain scanning technology explains that we responded to marketing/shopping activities the way we do because we are driven by our fundamental human urges of survival procreation (Reader Digest, Dec 2011).
Wokey let me share with you some of the interesting points i found in Reader Digest, December issue..its all about what inspire us to empty our wallets and spend money..
According to this article, shopping can be an almost 'religious' experience..it has been described as the new religion and the malls its cathedrals..wuhuhuhu...interesting new terms
Martin Lindstom a marketing guru in his book 'Buyology' discussed his study about our brain cells - Mirror Neurons, that works in tandem with dopamine - one of the brain's pleasure chemicals which is also associated with food and sex...so, when we shop, the pleasure is the same as when WE ARE HAVING SEX....oooppss. The reason is because in shopping our brain will flushes with pleasure and before we realise it, we have emptied our wallet or swapped our credit card. When we left the store minutes later and the feeling fades we will suddently asked ourself 'what on earth have i done"!!
Women are generally love love love shopping...agree? yessss...We utilised our 5 even 6 senses when we shop. We touch, we taste, we smell, we carefully look & check, we hear and sometimes we even dream (that is what i meant by 6 sense). Research found that 86% women read price tags before we buy compared to 72% men..see...we are still a very carefull shopper..but I belong to that 72% catagory because I dont really read the price..I like it, I buy!
Anyway, words of wisdom my friends.."shop with brain"..that is my husband's word of wisdom lah..haha..(1) make sure you have kept some portion of your money for saving (2) beli ikut kemampuan..jangan ikut orang...My husband always tell me to keep all the receipts (like he does) but I dont get the idea..what for? I cant get my money back..and I don't want to be reminded of what the economists call ' the pain of paying'.
One of the similarities that i share with my husband is shopping..most men dont like shopping but my man, ok ok la..I always promise him 'this one i'l pay myself'..swapppppp...when the American Express bill arrived at the end of the month i just..'forget forget remember' or...or..i pay..but pay half only..haha.
When i write this post, I was on board to Jakarta..I almost shopped at the departure hall..u know, the international departure hall is quite a good place to shop..my husband patted my shoulder and said " we have'nt arrive yet..bawa bawa la bersabar"..
The best time to ask for things from him is when I'm sick or I make myself look sick...see the pix below..few of the medicine I got because I fell sick during my trip...there my friends...that is actually the science behind the word BUYology..hehe
