If sales generally feel hard to resist, the sale in front of Aarron Schurevich was the ultimate test: a new Kia Soul just like the one he'd had and loved, at a dealership he trusted, at a moment when he really needed a car. And it was priced $4, 000 off, more than a 20% discount. However, after he sped through paperwork and drove the car off the lot, the deal turned sour. Schurevich now jokes that he paid a tax for being a fool.
This big-ticket example shows vividly all the dynamics that play out in a sale. The discount itself often registers as a win, delivering the joy of both getting the product and the reward that we discovered something, and we've earned this extra thing. Thus, spotting something we'd like to buy on sale activates our brain's reward system. Then there's the fight in the brain between what can be described as its emotional and rational(理性的)parts. A sale lands like the thumb that tips our mental scale toward buying.
Stores, of course, know all this and try to push our buttons.
Experts say we often subconsciously believe popular things to be more valuable or more rewarding. Plus, there's our urge to avoid losses—the fear of missing out (FOMO). So, stores appeal to our crowd mentality: It's Black Friday, and everyone's shopping, buying that thing you'd like. They create urgency: Your favorite car is on sale today only! And they create scarcity: Shop now while supplies last!
Stores also try various pricing tricks. " How do we make more customers go to the more expensive option? We add a decoy, " says Savannah Wei Shi, who researches pricing and decision-making. For example, picture a store shelf where a medium bag of candy sits next to a larger bag of the same candy. The medium-sized bag is much smaller than the other bag, but only slightly cheaper. It makes the big bag look like the best deal, so shoppers buy that one—the most expensive option on the shelf.
