[SURVEY] Younger Americans' Impulse Buying on Social Media Getting Worse—Spending Over $71 Billion in 2022

A new survey revealed that the impulse buying habit of younger Americans is worsening.

The latest findings showed that young US residents are spending tens of billions of dollars on impulse purchases online.

New Survey Claims Younger Americans' Online Impulse Buying is Getting Worse

According to Pix11's latest report, Bankrate conducted a new survey to see how much younger Americans spend on impulse purchases.

They spent around $71 billion on products they saw on social media platforms in 2022. The New York City-based financial company said each impulse buyer spends $754 on average.

"That's more than the gross domestic product of countries like Slovenia, Ghana, or Jordan," said Bankrate via its official survey.

Bankrate said that Americans with the worst impulse buying habits are Gen Z and millennials. On the other hand, baby boomers and Gen X showed a little more restraint.

Aside from this, Bankrate also revealed that nearly 50% of young Americans were triggered by social media platforms. Around 48% of them said that they impulsively purchased an item and then went on online platforms.

But, 68% of these impulse buyers said they regretted their decisions at least once after purchasing.

How NOT To Be An Impulse Buyer?

Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst Ted Rossman said that if younger Americans want to avoid spending too much on impulse purchases, they can best follow the 24-hour rule.

To do this, you must avoid the item you put in your cart for 24 hours. After that, you can return to it and see if you still want to buy it.

"For larger amounts, you might even want to hold off for a week or more. Make sure to involve your spouse in the discussion as well (if you have one)," explained Rossman.

Aside from the 24-hour rule, here are other tricks you can do to lessen your impulse purchases:

• Always use cash if you want to buy something so that you will have a limited budget for your impulse spending.
• Creating a budget is always the best way to reduce spending on unnecessary purchases.
• Before purchasing any product online, make sure that you are not emotional.
• Avoid visiting physical stores or checking online shopping websites unless you need to buy something.
• You can remove your saved card info so that you will have a hard time ordering online, allowing you to have time to think before making the purchase.

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