Retail Therapy

I was browsing through some blogs just now instead of doing my assignment when I came across a particular entry which just stimulated my mind a little. It’s the sort of entry where you read and go, “hey, that’s quite true” and you think how it applies to you.

That entry was about the subject of retail therapy. I’ve can’t say I’ve been a supporter or dissenter of this concept as I’ve been rather ambivalent about it. As long as it works for me, I’ve been a supporter. When I criticized others for their thoughtless purchases, I’ve spoken out against it. So I did a search on google, which the exact words ‘retail therapy definition’ and got the following definitions:

In Urban Dictionary, it was defined as:
1. The act of shopping as an outlet for frustration and a reliever of stress.
2. An excuse for people, mostly female, to go shopping when they're feeling bad, when in reality their bad feelings could be released/treated in other ways.

This clearly agrees with my ambivalence about this concept, as contributors to the definition on this site clearly can’t agree on a single definition.

The in the trusty Wikipedia, it was defined it as:
“Shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition.” Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as "comfort buys."

It was more straight-forward in msn Encarta, as it was defined simply as “shopping for fun”.

These two definitions only mean that retail therapy is more positively skewed towards the beneficial side of the fence. Retail therapy must be a good thing then? But isn’t it because those who contributed are biased in that sense? Or perhaps they’re just using the definition based on observation on their material-dependent friends and acquaintances.

So what exactly is my take on retail therapy then? Quite contrary to popular belief, I actually believe that there might be some usefulness to retail therapy. Sure, it may have its negatives such as time-wasting and financial problems due to buying essentially unnecessary items, but it might actually really prove to be therapeutic.

Retail therapy allows us to go out, rather than staying cooped up at home ruminating in melancholy. Being distracted definitely helps liven up the mood up and allows us to forget about our troubles momentarily. In addition, it is always a nice feeling when you acquire something novel. You get yourself all excited about this new purchase that it temporary alleviates the pain you’ve been going through.

In a study by a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh, participants were first shown either a video clip that showed grief following a tragic death or a neutral clip from a nature show. Then they had the chance to purchase an ordinary item - a sporty water bottle for example. It was found that people who were shown the sad video clip offered an average of 300% more money for the item than those who had viewed the neutral clip.

This shows that people are more willing to spend when they’re in a sad mood. The study also found that when people are sad, there tends to be a lot of emphasis on the self. The sad person tends to have a high level of self-focus. Hence, it explains why, apart from the thrill of owning something new, that retail therapy works.

With the emergence of the internet and particularly online shopping in the past decade, we can simply purchase items off the internet in a few clicks.

However, I’m quite puzzled as to how this might actually work. I know the technicalities of purchasing items online but I am unsure about the aesthetics of it. Sure, there may be some form of excitement in purchasing online, but it is miniscule compared to physically going down to the shops for your therapy session. You only get to see pictures online and perhaps get better prices, but would it not feel better if you could physically touch the items? You could get answers to your questions instantly, and you get to see other items that might be on sale.

I bought a camera online recently, and I just didn’t have the same feeling I usually get after purchasing something. Perhaps it’s also partly because I purchased the item, yet I didn’t have it yet. I had to wait for a week or more before I finally received my buy.

Although it was almost like Christmas morning, with the item arriving in a package that I ripped open, the excitement wasn’t really as intense as I’d hoped.

I think I would have felt happier had I physically made my way to the shop to purchase it. There, I would’ve been able to look at other cameras, compare them, and be contented that I had definitely chosen the best of the lot.

So this leads me to the next question, “how can it really be retail therapy if you shop online?” If and/or when I become a Psychologist upon graduation, do I give my clients therapy via msn messenger? I charge them slightly less, and I could do multiple chats at a go, but is that the same thing?