It gives you a favorable high. You're completely absorbed in this, and it's kind of an escape mechanism. Sometimes clicking fingers take over where the brain leaves off, said Wayne S. DeSarbo, a marketing professor at Pennsylvania State University. It's a temporary high one gets from shopping. Maybe you should sign off first.
Splurges online appear to differ from splurges at regular shopping venues.
People watching the Home Shopping Network might end up with many lifetime supplies of cubic zirconia and Ginsu knives. Internet anonymity Many aspects of the Internet encourage impulsive or compulsive buying. The Internet can also empower shoppers, said Austan Goolsbee, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Online shopping gives people the benefits of haggling and comparison shopping without the risk of offending anyone face to face, he said. But no Web site is going to call a person rude for heading elsewhere for a better bargain.