Impulse Buying: The Good, The Bad & What To Watch Out For
Impulse buying can be a great way to encourage yourself to change your habits and trade in a sedentary lifestyle for a fun and active one.
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Do you ever buy something completely on a whim or have a habit of making random purchases? Well, you’re not alone. According to a study done by the Asian Institute of Finance, around 40% of Malaysian Gen-Y and millennials tend to splurge their cash on sudden and immediate purchases.
This spontaneous spending behaviour is referred to as ‘impulse buying’ and it is something that happens to everyone from time to time. Both psychologists and marketing experts agree that impulse buying can be triggered by internal and external factors, like your personality, emotions, personal values, as well as your surroundings.
Take this scenario, for example:
Step 1: You love pisang goreng and you see a stall selling ‘em.
Step 2: Your brain plays back memories of all the times you’ve enjoyed pisang goreng in the past and triggers your desire to eat some.
Step 3: You see that there’s a long line at the store and you get a ‘lil FOMO that they might run out. Maybe the stall was also having a special buy-1-free-1 promo.
Step 4: And just like that, with little to no hesitation, you make your purchase and now you have a bag of pisang goreng in your hands and a satisfied smile on your face.
Impulse buying can have both positive and negative effects on your well-being, depending on the outcome. It can also relieve stress and boredom, and give you a sense of excitement and novelty over accomplishing your desires.
The good
Lift your spirits
Buying something you like can make you feel happy and satisfied, especially if you’ve been eyeing that something for a while or worked hard to afford it. It can also relieve stress and boredom, and give you a sense of excitement and novelty over accomplishing your desires.
For instance, spontaneously buying some accessories or gadgets that you encounter at a mall can be a good self-reward to boost your mood.
Boost your creativity
Buying something on impulse may help you discover new things, places, hobbies or even new styles that you might not have tried before and may spark your interest to learn and discover new things.
For example, purchasing a plane ticket to a holiday destination of your dreams can be an excellent way to expand your horizons and explore the world around you.
Motivate your lifestyle
Sometimes, we all need a little push to motivate ourselves to stay fit and healthy. Impulse buying can be a great way to encourage yourself to change your habits and trade in a sedentary lifestyle for a fun and active one.
If you are looking for a purchase that can help you live a more active lifestyle, achieve your fitness goals, and have tonnes of fun and adventure, then you might want to check out the G-Shock’s G-SQUAD series: the GBD-H2000 and the DW-H5600.
These digital watches are part of the G-Shock G-SQUAD series and are designed for fitness enthusiasts, sports lovers, and folks who are always on the go (or would like to get moving).
They come with smart features that help track your activity and health, solar-powered charging, and can be connected to your phones with Bluetooth for more functionality.
But best of all, they are made to be tough and can withstand quite the punishment with their shock, vibration and water resistance capabilities.
GBD-H2000: A Beast of a Watch
The GBD-H2000 is big, bold and looks rugged with its massive round display, bulky bezel and big button guards. But surprisingly, it is still light and comfortable on the wrist.
The watch’s band is made from this biomass plastic material that doesn’t feel cheap or irritating when sweating.
The monochrome LCD display is also bright enough to view in sunlight. But having the backlight turn on automatically when you look at it does help with reading the display.
Being the more advanced of the two watches, the GBD-H2000 comes with six sensors, GPS, and it can track and show your steps, calories, distance, speed, pace, heart rate, and blood oxygen level in real time.
It can even measure how well you sleep at night and show you the current altitude, barometric pressure, temperature and direction you’re heading with its compass.
All that information is displayed on the watch face, but if you have it synced to your phone, the watch can also display your notifications and catalogue them in a folder to read, as well as allow you to access the fitness data it collected through the Casio mobile app.
This health and fitness function is powered by Polar’s athletic algorithm which provides accurate and reliable data to check on your stats and progress. The suite also gives you personalized training guides based on the goals you have in mind.
The watch is ideal for both indoor and outdoor activities as it can track up to eight different things, like running, cycling, and swimming, as well as gym workouts, time interval training and meditative breathing exercises, to keep your body and mind in ship shape.
However, the watch does have its drawbacks. Being big and bulky, it’s not at all comfortable to wear in bed. It also makes wearing long-sleeve shirts uncomfortable as it tends to snag on the fabric. The watch’s interface and menus are not very intuitive. It’s difficult to navigate and will take some time to get used to. It also needs to be recharged with a bulky USB cable that can be a little frustrating to clip on.
DW-H5600: Sleeker for the Squad
The DW-H5600 is the smaller, slimmer G-SQUAD sibling, and comes in Casio’s classic square-ish design. The watch is also powered by Polar’s algorithm, but it supports fewer functions.
The display provides you with the standard time, date, and battery level and the watch can track your heart rate, O2 level, steps, calories, distance, speed, pace, sleep cycle and cardio status.
But unlike the GBD-H2000 it does not have a GPS and can only track four physical activities, including running, walking, gym workouts and time interval training.
Being smaller, the watch is also a little difficult to navigate through. The display is a ‘lil tiny (making reading stats and notifications a chore) and the buttons are impossible to push without using the tip of your fingers and nails.
However, being the more affordable of the two, it’s a stylish and low-profile timepiece to have whether you’re physically active or out for more casual hangout sessions.
The GBD-H2000 and the DW-H5600, with their suite of features make ‘em great contenders to satisfy your impulse to live an active and adventurous lifestyle. Check out Casio’s official retail stores and website to get a hold of ‘em.
Impulse buying bads and what to watch out for
Of course, there are drawbacks to impulse buying behaviours, and if you’re not careful it will lead you to:
- Overspend more than you can afford and get into debt. This can lead to financial stress, and anxiety and impede your ability to save and spend for your future needs and goals.
- Feel regret or buyer’s remorse when you are unhappy or unsatisfied with your purchase.
- Clutter your homes or personal spaces with all the stuff you buy but don’t even use.
So remember to always reflect on your shopping habits and indulge in your impulses wisely and moderately to avoid making unnecessary purchases, and of course, unneeded stress. Happy shopping!
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