🚨Online shops use numerous tricks to urge customers to buy.⏳ Timers indicating that the shopping basket is about to expire and countdown prices put customers under time pressure. Notices such as ‘Only a few items left’ and pop-ups with discounts for newsletter subscriptions increase the pressure to buy, often to gain more sales and data.
☝️Manipulated prices are also popular: A ‘reduced’ price appears in eye-catching red next to a crossed-out, grey ‘old’ price, suggesting a supposed bargain. However, large retailers such as Amazon are criticised for often only displaying the last price instead of the prescribed 30-day average price – a trick that is difficult to see through.
⚠️In addition, retailers use so-called ‘dark patterns’ to sneak additional items such as insurance into the shopping basket unnoticed. Hidden costs such as shipping fees sometimes only appear in the final step. Despite regulations such as the Price Indication Ordinance and the Digital Services Act, such deceptions occur time and again, as they are sometimes difficult to prove and barely recognisable for customers.
🗣️⭐Other manipulative methods include ‘social proofs’ in the form of fake reviews designed to build trust. Recurring newsletter pop-ups also put customers under pressure through ‘click fatigue’ until they finally give in and sign up.
🙅♀️To protect yourself, it helps to check your shopping basket carefully before buying and to critically scrutinise supposed countdown discounts. Comparison portals and price tools such as Idealo are also helpful for monitoring price trends and finding real bargains without having to rely on discount days.
Do you know any other tips? Then feel free to write them in the comments!👇🛍️💡
