Why People Buy Things They Dont Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior

Many of the product categories included in this year's survey of personal luxuries are new. All clothing and apparel was intentionally left out of previous years' surveys with the idea that clothing was a necessity and survey respondents would have a hard time distinguishing their necessity-based purchases from their emotional-based ones. This year, though, I threw caution to the wind and included apparel for many reasons, the most important of which is that women's apparel is the number one thing that I personally buy that I definitely don't need.

Women's apparel is the most widely purchased personal luxury based upon this survey, with 65 percent of consumers reporting a discretionary, desire-based purchase in the category (see Figure 6.1). Personal care products that are more "special" or" exclusive" than everyday brands are second most widely bought, with 64 percent purchase incidence. Next follows fashion accessories, such as handbags, shoes, wallets, scarves, and all the rest, bought by 63 percent of shoppers. Only 14 percent of the consumers surveyed made no discretionary purchases of personal luxuries.

So who are these people that deny themselves the pleasure of personal luxury shopping? They are mostly male, with some 20 percent of men surveyed doing without any of these items out of desire, as opposed to only 8 percent of women. They also are more likely to be 65 years and above, with 26 percent of the mature consumers not buying. The low-income households do without, as 17 percent of the under $25,000 house-holds do not buy. Some 21 percent of single people and those with no children are also more likely not to buy.

The rest of this chapter is devoted to profiling the markets for personal luxuries, including fashion accessories, jewelry and/or watches, infant and children's clothing, teen and tween clothing, men's clothing, women's clothing, and personal care products.