Cyber Monday - A Narrative

Last year, I accidentally left my Christmas shopping until the last minute. As a freshman college student, I didn’t realize how Christmas crept up on me, first slowly, and then rapidly. This year I decided to start Christmas shopping as soon as December hit. I started Black Friday shopping in stores and realized that I had no time keep going back to the mall and shop for everything by hand. On Tumblr, many people reblogged how they got all of these gadgets and gifts for very cheap utilizing sales and coupon codes. This is when I turned to cyber-Monday shopping. And this is when I changed, forever.

Monday:

I had signed up for 20+ email subscriptions and bought 400 dollars worth of gifts. I didn’t realize how much I was spending until I looked at my credit balance and thought to myself “well, shit.” I figured I’d buy everything I needed to finish my Christmas shopping just on Cyber Monday because I thought Cyber Monday discounters were only on Monday. Every website had some sort of amazing discount. I mean, who wouldn’t buy a Polaroid that was discounted for 40% off?

Tuesday:

I woke up to gazillions of emails saying “Cyber Monday is not over!!!! Take an extra 25% off with Cyber Monday deals.” I then yelled at my computer screaming, “It’s Tuesday, though?!?!?” When I saw that everything else was discounted even more, I thought to myself, “are my gifts enough?”  and that’s when I lost all control of my life.

Wednesday:

I received these emails from specific stores stating that because I was such a good shopper, I obtained in store credit. I got $10 from Kohls, and $20 from Macy’s. Because of these, I figured I should utilize the in store credit. Now, when I was shopping, I had the intent on just utilizing the credit I acquired, but then I thought to myself, “why should I buy something cheap when I have money off?” My logic was that if I had free cash to buy something, I better buy something good. I ended up buying a Phillips Sonicare toothbrush for my mom, a $70 value, but guess what, I got $10 off.

I realize that it’s not me who has a problem (even though it humanly is) but that it's the fault those stores who utilize online sales. They know how human brains work and utilize psychology to their advantage. Poor shoppers with good intentions, like me, then get sucked into their games and tricks. According to Livescience.com, “The limited-time-only nature of Black Friday triggers an innate fear of scarcity that drives people to buy. As long as these tactics aren't overused, marketing experts say, they can be very effective in luring holiday shoppers to the cash register with cartfuls of goodies.” Little did I know that science was incorporated to the act of shopping.