Buy to let off steam | The Press

Have you had the impression of spending more, for two years, on often impulsive – and not always reasonable – purchases! – out of frustration or spite at the ups and downs of the health situation? This is the case for many people, and the phenomenon has even been baptized by the Anglo-Saxon media: the revenge shopping — or revenge shopping.

Laila Maalouf
The Press

When his trip to Europe was canceled during the holidays, Charles de Brabant’s brother-in-law started spending lavishly.

“He bought lots of consumer goods; he had a blast online, left and right – because he had the money to do it, but also because he was depressed, frustrated and angry,” recounts the executive director of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management from McGill University.

Charles de Brabant believes that the pandemic has had a double effect: on the one hand, those who have been lucky enough to keep relatively well-paid jobs have found themselves with greater savings than usual; on the other hand, the situation created “enormous” frustrations among people who tried to let off steam in one way or another. And since we couldn’t afford “experiences” – a restaurant outing or an afternoon at the spa – many turned to consumer goods, he says.

But what used to be individual behavior has now become collective, in his view. “I’ll take a personal example: I’ve had cancer a number of times. After having drooled so much with chemo, we absolutely want to have fun and that’s normal, if we can afford it financially. »

“I’m going to spoil myself”

Indeed, lately, everyone has had the impression of “deserving” this or that. “The pandemic is becoming a good excuse to say: “Ah, I deserve it, I have low morale, so it will do me good, I will have fun…”, intervenes psychologist Katia Bissonnette. With the constraints that there were, Christmas which was canceled, people said to themselves: “With the money, I will spoil myself”, to come and compensate for the losses suffered. But in normal times, the person would not have bought it, that good. »

At the start of the pandemic, it was mainly home improvement stores and hardware stores that benefited from the trend, according to Charles de Brabant. Then the decoration took over. “We have a little money, we buy a new sofa, we create a gym at home”, he illustrates.

Katia Bissonnette agrees: “We’ve seen it with Ski-Doos, sports… People have really equipped themselves more than they would have done in normal times. »

For Thomas Kyo Beom Koo, assistant professor of marketing at Laval University, these revenge purchases made in the darkest moments of the pandemic are partly akin to what researchers call therapeutic shopping (retail therapyin English), these small or large gifts that we offer ourselves, such as a lipstick or a handbag, in order to improve our mood – whether we are sad, depressed, anxious, stressed… – and to reclaim a form of control.

What he observes, however, in the revenge shopping – even if this relatively new trend has not yet been studied – it is a trend towards more “extravagant” purchases, with a very “YOLO” attitude (acronym for you only live onceor “you only live once”).

“I think a lot of people get this feeling of trying things they wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. […] or to afford more luxurious items, he believes. And now that travel is going to be more possible, I believe some people might channel their desire to buy luxury items into services or experiences, in response to those suppressed desires. »

“People have been more emotionally vulnerable during the pandemic. So thinking was perhaps done less – or in a different way – before buying, ”suggests psychologist Katia Bissonnette.

But that’s not a reason to feel guilty, she points out, at least as long as the purchase does not become compulsive or lead to debt. Because, unless you are very disciplined, who has never succumbed to a whim?