Tinted Shades of Retail Therapy

The unconscious and relentless journey of scrolling from one online store to another have contributed to my Gpay stash of scratch cards and some retail therapy for my monthly sorrows. I would find myself getting into the clickbait of sales and newly added merchandise while watching “testing viral recipes with Xyz” videos that triggered my cravings, guilty! When I narrate this to you let me break the pattern of clickbait and the epitome of falling for flash sales.

Lately, I’ve been obsessing over getting some color-block Nike shoes, which ones? I do not know. And so the search remains open-ended.

For most parts of it, there are sites I visit to explore the ‘n’ number of options available and I end up liking none. However, when I continue to other websites like youtube or to get onto some reading shoes I seemed to have missed the pop-up on the screen. And the cycle of scrolling, saving, and canceling tabs begins again!

The advertisements that consistently follow me everywhere are called impressions. Websites advertising the content have agreed to Cost Per Thousand impressions; i.e. they receive a fixed amount for a thousand impressions (which could vary) made on the promoted content.

When I choose to click on these incredible shoes from a website I’ve dug deep into thrice, I enable Cost Per Click which converts each click that I do into a set payment for these websites that advertise the brand's product. The significant part here is, that each brand that has made a deal with a blog page/retail page etc can track which link exactly is the traffic coming the most to their site. Hence, the placement of these advertisements on a page makes a difference and dominates the ball game of clickbait.

It’s important to know what goes into one's mind while pressing on these advertisements. Why must I visit the same website over and again? Due to curiosity and unnerving anticipation, I feel inquisitive about the options that I might have not discovered earlier a.k.a the vegas effect. Just how you feel when someone informs you that they have something to tell you and leaves you to your wild imagination!

Does the process end here? Not really, let’s assume I do end up finding a product I love and it makes it out of the shopping cart to the shipment process. There’s a profit for the advertisers encrypted here as well. Each purchase made gives the advertisers a percentage of the sale made also called Cost Per Action. A brand needs to have a strong IT base and technology system to reach this stage and track the source of the CPA i.e which website led to the purchase. Hence, a brand just starting would most likely stick to either CPM or CPC.

It is by negotiating and establishing a strategic interface that an advertiser can generate profit through this.

Once decoding of the above three categories is done an advertiser can get into the art of negotiation with the portal they wish to promote. Essentially, if someone were to advertise swimwear on a chilly evening I’d scroll through without flinching for a second. However, if I’d find the same thing while packing up for a beachside getaway it would simply put a tick on my list.

While planning where or how to put the content it would be relevant to see how much importance a product holds on that page. For example, if a travel blogger who has recently published an article on their trip to Manali during winter, is approached by an Airbnb located in Manali to advertise and promote their site it would make a great decision. For the visitors coming to the blogger's site for reference and looking for any places in the region, the advertisement would be of pertinence and help. But, this does not guarantee that the sales for that particular homestay would increase or be of profit. Hence, when making these decisions it is essential to analyze and then corroborate the promotions.

It’s dopamine's way of seeking its due pleasure while looking for its answers and clickbait taps right into this behavior of ours!

So the next time you stroll down into a never-ending business of retail therapy, ensure that you leave enough space for refreshers away from your screen. Get your hands on some advertisement blockers, gradually understand your pattern, and maybe make the purchase if you find the perfect shoes!