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Shopping與knocking over a dinosaur的關係
( 2010-11-05 )



      為什麼每逢有名店“開倉大減價”,都有很多人不惜花五六個小時乖乖的在門外排隊,而最後只買到一兩件合用的貨品,節省的只不過是幾百元?
      花半天時間為了節省幾百元,怎樣計也不是划算的交易。若有人給你幾百元,要你日曬雨淋的在街上呆企幾小時,相信很多人也不會願意。但為何凡有買“便宜貨”的機會,很多人都會樂此不疲的去排隊呢?
      明知只不過是商店招徠的手法,但看到"Sale"、“大減價”,就總會心動的想走進商店看一看呢!商店說“結業大平賣”已貼了大半年,卻仍有人“中計”,原因又是什麼呢?
      雖然這些推銷伎倆毫無新意,但顯然仍然奏效,否則商人也不會百用不厭。雖然大家都知道物質並不能帶來長久的快樂,買來的東西也未必真的有用,但我們仍然非常喜歡shopping。
      掃貨亢奮
      原來雖然買到“減價貨”省到的可能只是十元八塊,但都會令人興奮,是因為有特別的心態作祟。一個叫TheCheapGirl.com的網站上,便有這樣的留言:
      "Whenever I find a good deal, it's sort of like an adrenaline rush," she says. "For me, it's one of the highest forms of pleasure...."
      Adrenaline是腎上腺素,adrenaline rush就是身體分泌腎上腺素引起的高度亢奮的感覺。找到“超抵”的貨品,是最高程度的歡愉。
      At its most extreme, the thrill of seeking a good bargain drives people to line up for hours outside shopping malls on Boxing Day or crush each other in stampedes as they race to get products for the lowest price.
       (在最極端的情況下,買便宜貨的刺激感會驅使大家聖誕節翌日在商場外排隊幾小時,或爭先恐後的飛奔去搶全場最便宜貨品時互相踐踏。)
      英國Institute of Promotional Marketing(市場推廣協會)和University of Westminster(西敏寺大學)做了個研究,發現"people can get as excited spotting a bargain as they do looking at pornography"(人們看到便宜貨的興奮程度與看色情物品相若)。
      In this study, participants' responses to the marketing promotions scored as high as 5.8.
      以一至十的尺度來區分,十度就是最激烈的情緒反應,減價推廣貨品的情緒反應為5.8。所以,購物(shopping)是其中一種過程比結果還要令人興奮的事情。
      原始本能
      科學家認為這種對shopping的心理反應很可能"rooted in our primal instincts to hunt for survival"(源自我們一些賴以生存的原始本能)。
      Nowadays, the only place you can find something which is equivalent to going out and knocking over a dinosaur(打倒了一頭恐龍) is in the supermarket. It gets you on a more visceral(發自內心深處的) level than we had probably anticipated.
      Martin Lindstrom的Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy,解構我們購物的心態。