Does E-Commerce Perpetuate Unregulated Buying?

So what is “unregulated buying” anyways?

Unregulated buying refers to impulse buying, compulsive buying, and buying addictions. By definition, an impulse buyer is characterized by buying that is unplanned and spontaneous. This is the type of buyer that responds to “novelty or escape [and] breaks a normal buying pattern”(LaRose); and impulse tendency is “a consumer’s tendency to buy spontaneously, unreflectively, immediately and kinetically”(LaRose). Perhaps what causes this tendency are the sensory qualities of the product as well as the environment that the consumer is in. There are various emotional responses that are associated with the conditioned response of impulse buying. These emotional responses serve to block out negative thoughts of the consequences to come, allowing the buyer to be more receptive to their impulse tendency. Numerous positive outcomes further help to increase this receptivity, such as: benefits of the product, satisfaction of consumer needs, and the replacement of negative feelings with feelings of pleasure and excitement. Often times, the motivation will shift from the desire to purchase specific products, to a desire or need for the act

“Compulsive buying stems from continuing neglect of long term consequences as consumers begin to self-treat anxiety and depression”(LaRose). In turn, this results in a viscous cycle with more buying binges, which result in increased feeling of guilt then exceeding to more mountainous life problems. Generally, these consequences outweigh the benefits of the buying process for normal consumers, but compulsive buyers progressively rely upon shopping to provide relief from the negative feelings that surround their life.

Currently there has been no distinct definition that separates compulsive buyers and addictive buyers; sometimes they are even used interchangeably. One feature that separates the two though is that the addition is the result of the transition from abuse to dependency “marked by diminished response (tolerance), withdrawal symptoms, and other indicators commonly associated with chemical addictions”(LaRose). The actual physical endorphin, or the “feel good hormone”, that is released into our body while performing the pleasing buying behavior, is what supplies the body with the source of its addiction.

As you can see, e-commerce does indeed advocate the process and development of unregulated buying by overwhelming the consumer with special features, freebies, and coupons. “In their efforts to recreate real-world shopping experiences on the Web, on-line retailers have created features that attack all aspects of self regulation, sometimes in novel ways not yet found in conventional retail environments” (LaRose).

General Characteristics of an “Unregulated Buyer”

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