Impulse Buying: Why We Do It (and the Psychology Stores Use)

By the Cartsnooze team · 26 October 2026 · 9 min read

The short answer

Impulse buying is an unplanned purchase made on a sudden, strong urge, usually decided in seconds at the moment you see the item. It happens because the brain's reward system reacts to the thought of having something faster than the part of you that weighs the cost, and stores design their shelves, apps and checkouts to catch that moment. It is extremely common: U.S. adults reported an average of $314 a month in impulse purchases in a 2022 Slickdeals survey.

There are four classic types: pure, reminder, suggestion and planned impulse buying.
Key triggers: reward anticipation, present bias, scarcity and FOMO, tiredness, low mood, and frictionless payment.
The most effective counter is time: waiting lets the urge cool before you decide.

Impulse buying is something almost everyone does, from the candy bar at the register to the 1 a.m. "add to cart" you forgot about until the box arrived. It is not a sign that you are bad with money. It is a predictable result of how human brains work and how modern shopping is built. Once you see the machinery, it gets a lot easier to step around it.

What is impulse buying?

Impulse buying is buying something you had not planned to buy, prompted by a sudden urge rather than a prior decision.

Consumer researcher Dennis Rook, in a 1987 paper in the Journal of Consumer Research, described the buying impulse as a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something right away. Three features show up again and again in the research:

Unplanned: it wasn't on your list or in your head when you started.
Fast: the decision takes seconds, not days.
Emotional: it feels exciting, urgent or soothing, and the thinking part usually comes after.

Impulse buying is different from compulsive buying. An impulse buy is an occasional, in-the-moment choice. Compulsive buying is a persistent pattern that feels out of control and causes real distress (more on that below).

The 4 types of impulse buying

The classic framework comes from economist Hawkins Stern, who in 1962 split impulse buying into four types.

Type	What happens	Example
Pure impulse	A true novelty or escape purchase that breaks your normal buying pattern.	Walking past a shop window and buying a $90 jacket you never thought about.
Reminder impulse	Seeing an item reminds you that you need it, or that you meant to buy it.	Spotting batteries at checkout and remembering the remote is dead.
Suggestion impulse	You see a product for the first time and convince yourself you need it.	A TikTok gadget that "changed my life", bought without any prior need.
Planned impulse	You shop knowing you'll buy something, and wait for a deal to decide what.	Going into a sale "just to see" with the intention of leaving with something.

Reminder impulse buys are often harmless, even useful. Pure and suggestion impulses are where most regret lives, and planned impulse buying is what sales events are designed to create.

Impulse buying examples you'll recognize

Most impulse buys are small, frequent and happen in the same few places.

Snacks, drinks and magazines at the checkout line.
Adding one more item to an online cart to reach free shipping.
A "limited drop" from a brand you follow, bought within minutes of the post.
Upgrading to the bigger size, the premium version, or the add-on warranty at checkout.
Late-night scrolling purchases after a long or stressful day.
Buying during a flash sale because the countdown timer is ticking.
"Treat yourself" purchases after a bad day, a breakup or a win.

The psychology of impulse buying: why we do it

We impulse buy because the reward of having something hits our brains immediately, while the cost is abstract and delayed.

Reward anticipation

In a 2007 brain-imaging study published in Neuron, Brian Knutson and colleagues watched people decide whether to buy products. Seeing a product they liked activated the nucleus accumbens, a region linked to anticipating reward. Seeing a price that felt too high activated the insula, a region linked to unpleasant feelings. Activity in these regions predicted whether people bought, beyond what they said about the products. In plain terms: buying is a tug-of-war between "ooh, want" and "ouch, price", and whichever signal is louder in that moment tends to win.

The hot-cold empathy gap

Economist George Loewenstein showed that "visceral" states such as cravings, hunger and strong emotions change what we want in the moment, and that we are bad at predicting this. When you are calm, you assume you'd never pay $60 for a novelty lamp. When you are in the hot moment, you can't imagine the feeling fading. It nearly always does.

Present bias

Humans weigh "now" much more heavily than "later". The joy of the item is now; the dent in your savings is later, spread out and invisible. Buy now, pay later plans and credit cards push the cost even further into the future, which makes this bias stronger.

Depleted self-control

Self-control seems to work less well when you've already spent a lot of it. In experiments by Kathleen Vohs and Ronald Faber, people who had just suppressed their thoughts for a few minutes spent an average of $4.05 of a $10 bookstore allowance, compared with $1.21 for people who had not. A long, draining day is a high-risk time to browse.

Mood and "retail therapy"

Buying something can give a quick lift when you're stressed, bored, lonely or sad. The lift is real but short, and it can quietly train the habit: feel bad, shop, feel briefly better, repeat.

Scarcity, FOMO and social proof

"Only 2 left", "selling fast" and "everyone's buying this" all tap into the fear of missing out. In Slickdeals' 2022 survey, 67% of respondents said some impulse buys were about FOMO and wanting to be part of the in crowd. In the 2023 survey that figure fell to 35%, but it is still a lot of purchases driven by other people rather than our own wants.

How stores and apps encourage impulse buying

Retailers design the shopping experience to create urges and remove the pauses where you'd reconsider.

Checkout placement: cheap, tempting items sit right where you wait in line, and "frequently bought together" does the same online.
Countdown timers and low-stock badges: urgency cuts thinking time.
Free-shipping thresholds: "Add $8 more for free shipping" turns one purchase into two.
One-click and saved cards: the less effort checkout takes, the less time you have to change your mind.
Buy now, pay later: splitting the price makes it feel smaller. In a 2021 LendingTree survey of BNPL users, about two-thirds said they typically buy more than they would if paying upfront, and 47% said they wouldn't have made their full purchase without the financing option.
Personalized recommendations and retargeting ads: the thing you looked at once follows you around the internet.
Shoppable social posts and live shopping: entertainment and checkout merge into one scroll.
Push notifications and sale emails: they create a reason to open the app when you had no reason to shop.
Price anchoring: a crossed-out "was $120" makes $69 feel like a win, even if you never wanted it at $69.

Put the pause back in

Every tactic above works by removing the pause. Cartsnooze adds it back: snooze the item for a few days, get a reminder when the timer is up, and decide "Still want it" or "Let it go" with a cool head.

Free on iPhoneGet Cartsnooze

Impulse buying statistics

The numbers show impulse buying is common, swings with the economy, and is boosted by easy financing.

Statistic	Source
Average U.S. impulse spending: $183/month (2020), $276 (2021), $314 (2022), $151 (2023)	Slickdeals surveys by OnePoll, 2,000 U.S. adults each year
67% said some impulse buys were driven by FOMO in 2022; 35% in 2023	Slickdeals / OnePoll
About 2 in 3 BNPL users say they typically buy more than if paying upfront	LendingTree, 1,040 U.S. consumers, 2021
47% of BNPL users wouldn't have made their full purchase without financing	LendingTree, 2021
Depleted participants spent $4.05 vs $1.21 of a $10 allowance	Vohs and Faber, Journal of Consumer Research, 2007
About 5.8% of U.S. adults show signs of compulsive buying	Koran et al., American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006 (2,513 adults)

Even the lower 2023 figure of $151 a month adds up to more than $1,800 a year. If you're curious what your own impulse buys cost in time, try our Worth It? calculator: it turns any price into hours of your work.

Is impulse buying always bad?

No: an occasional, affordable impulse buy that you enjoy is part of a normal life.

Reminder impulses can save you a second trip. A spontaneous gift can make someone's week. The problem is the pattern, not the purchase: regular impulse buys that crowd out goals, add to debt, or leave you feeling worse.

If shopping feels out of your control, you hide purchases, or it causes debt and conflict, that may point to compulsive buying, which is worth talking to a doctor or counselor about. Our guide to shopping addiction covers the signs gently.

How to beat impulse buying

The best way to beat impulse buying is to add a delay and remove the triggers, so the cool version of you gets a vote.

Wait before you buy. 24 hours for small things, up to 30 days for big ones. See the 30-day rule for shopping.
Cut the cues. Unsubscribe from store emails, mute shopping notifications, uninstall shopping apps.
Add friction. Delete saved cards and avoid "pay in 4" for wants.
Check your state. Hungry, angry, lonely, tired, bored? Not a good time to browse.
Price it in hours. "Five hours of work" is easier to judge than "$75".

We cover 12 practical tactics in detail in How to Stop Impulse Buying. And if you want a full reset, try a no-buy challenge.

FAQ

What is impulse buying in simple terms?

Impulse buying is buying something you didn't plan to buy because of a sudden urge in the moment. The decision is quick and driven more by emotion than by planning.

What are the 4 types of impulse buying?

Hawkins Stern's 1962 framework lists pure impulse buying (a novelty purchase that breaks your usual pattern), reminder impulse buying (seeing an item reminds you that you need it), suggestion impulse buying (seeing a new product and deciding you need it), and planned impulse buying (shopping with the intention to buy something on deal).

What causes impulse buying?

Impulse buying is caused by a mix of reward anticipation in the brain, present bias, emotional states like stress or boredom, tiredness and low self-control, and store tactics such as scarcity messages, countdown timers, one-click checkout and buy now, pay later options.

How much does the average person spend on impulse buys?

In Slickdeals surveys of 2,000 U.S. adults, average reported impulse spending was $314 a month in 2022 and $151 a month in 2023.

Is impulse buying a mental illness?

No. Occasional impulse buying is normal. Compulsive buying, a persistent pattern that feels out of control and causes distress or financial harm, is different and is worth discussing with a doctor or mental health professional.

What is the best way to stop impulse buying?

Add a waiting period before unplanned purchases, such as 24 hours for small items and up to 30 days for large ones, and remove triggers like shopping apps, sale emails and saved cards.

Sources

Stern, H., "The Significance of Impulse Buying Today", Journal of Marketing, 26(2), 1962. link
Rook, D. W., "The Buying Impulse", Journal of Consumer Research, 14(2), 1987. link
Knutson, B., Rick, S., Wimmer, G. E., Prelec, D. and Loewenstein, G., "Neural Predictors of Purchases", Neuron, 2007. link
Loewenstein, G., "Out of Control: Visceral Influences on Behavior", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1996. link
Vohs, K. D. and Faber, R. J., "Spent Resources: Self-Regulatory Resource Availability Affects Impulse Buying", Journal of Consumer Research, 2007 (via ScienceDaily). link
VMSD, "Impulse Buys on the Decline, Survey Shows" (Slickdeals survey by OnePoll), 2023. link
LendingTree, "'Buy Now, Pay Later' Financing Used for Things Shoppers Can't Afford", 2021. link
Koran, L. M. et al., "Estimated Prevalence of Compulsive Buying Behavior in the United States", American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006 (via ScienceDaily). link