It’s ok if you had not heard of online retail therapy before. Because even if you are unaware of the term itself, you have been at it for quite a while. So what is Online retail therapy?

Retail therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition. Often seen in people during periods of depression or stress, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as "comfort buys" (compare comfort food).

The name retail therapy is ironic and semifacetious, acknowledging that shopping hardly qualifies as true therapy in the medical or psychotherapeutic sense. It was first used in the 1980s, with the first reference being this sentence in the Chicago Tribune of Christmas Eve 1986: "We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through retail therapy."

What makes this wheel go round? That is what we are going to find out!

Modern life requires shopping. You can Love it or hate it, but it’s a standard part of life.

Maybe you’re the kind of person who can easily spend hours in stores, comparing prices on everyday items or shopping for the perfect gift. But in reality, who has the time now? 

Or maybe you prefer to browse online for groceries, new clothes, and everything in between. With smartphones being easily available to the masses, this gained huge momentum.

If you’ve ever shopped when feeling down or stressed, you’re likely familiar with the mood boost that can result from making a purchase or simply walking through a shopping mall and window-shopping. That’s the concept of retail therapy in action.

Does retail therapy actually work?

Well does chocolate make you feel better? Of course! Turns out, shopping does the same. It lifts one’s spirits. This is backed by a 2011 study that looked at 407 adults in three different experiments. To quote- 

The study authors drew a few conclusions:

• Unplanned shopping seems to help relieve bad moods.
• Resisting the urge to buy something has a similar mood-boosting benefit for people trying to avoid impulsive spending.
• Retail therapy usually doesn’t involve negative effects, such as buyer’s remorse, guilt, anxiety, or other distress.
• The mood improvement associated with retail therapy seems to last well past the purchase.
• People often assume that engaging in retail therapy is a slippery slope toward overspending, but the researchers didn’t find this to be the case. In fact, most participants stayed well within their budget.

A second study from 2013 similarly found that retail therapy was an effective way to turn a low mood around. Interestingly, it appears to be more beneficial for sad moods, not necessarily angry ones. In conclusion, negative emotions are what drive the wheel of online retail therapy - particularly sadness or hopelessness. Talk about a never-ending well right?!

If you are still wondering why online shopping feels good? It is all about control. You control the price, the brands, size, stitch, pattern, length, colour and so much more! Where else do you get to exercise this type of control? Even high-end restaurants have their limit, but not online therapy. Feelings of sadness, stress, or anxiety are often rooted in feelings of powerlessness. This is what makes it an absolute hit! - Choosing to make a purchase (or not to make a purchase) helps people feel more empowered.

How damaging is online retail therapy?

How bad is opium? Not that we are comparing. But seriously, how bad is it? 

It’s not unusual for people to talk about retail therapy as a kind of guilty pleasure or bad habit. But it if makes you feel better, and it doesn’t involve feelings of regret, can it really be that bad?

But that’s never the case. The feeling of regret goes hand in hand with online retail therapy. You are paying monetary cost after all, in addition to corrupting your soul with gluttony. 

But, as with most things that feel good, moderation can be a regulator for online retail therapy.

If you consistently use shopping to cope with distress, it can become a less than ideal way of dealing with what’s troubling you, whether that’s a huge assignment at work or serious issues in your relationship. The temporary mood boost associated with shopping can prevent you from seeking help that would offer more significant, long-lasting benefits. Your financial situation can also affect whether retail therapy becomes harmful. If you keep your purchases within your spending budget, you likely won’t see any negative impact.

Thinking Of putting it on credit? Who do you think has to pay it back? If we have learnt anything from the hit movie - Shopaholic, it is that online retail therapy prays on the weak and debt is not easy to pay.

But as we said, regulation is the key. Be strong and logical with your purchases. Or just keep the receipt at least!

Gotta love the return and refund feature as well!