AI-driven marketing poses risks for shopping addicts, warns Priory therapist

Retailers are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to personalise marketing and optimise the customer experience, but this is posing significant challenges for individuals struggling with shopping addiction, a leading Priory addiction therapist has warned.

By analysing browsing history and past purchases, AI serves up hyper-targeted product recommendations that are hard to resist. Additionally, AI-driven dynamic pricing and personalised discounts create a sense of urgency, making it even more tempting to buy.

These virtual triggers can exacerbate an existing shopping addiction, and Priory therapist Pamela Roberts is urging those at risk to take proactive steps to avoid the flood of marketing emails and app notifications which come with two of the year’s biggest online shopping events.

“The abundance of data allows retailers to tempt shoppers more effectively than ever before,” she says. “Consumers are bombarded with online shopping options, requiring them to invest more cognitive effort to make rational decisions. For those with a shopping addiction, this can be overwhelming and lead to impulsive purchases. I’m already seeing the impact on the people I support in my clinics.”

Shopping addiction, a form of behavioural addiction, is characterised by an uncontrollable urge to shop despite negative consequences. It often masks underlying mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and low self-esteem. Contrary to popular belief, both men and women are equally susceptible to this cycle of overspending.

“The digital shopping environment, with its low self-regulation, makes it difficult for individuals to control their urges,” Roberts notes. “A recent study highlights how smartphones, in particular, facilitate shopping addiction and lead to debt-related issues as a direct result.”

The constant stimuli from pop-up ads, timed discounts, and incentive-led purchases prey on those with behavioural addictions, reducing their ability to resist over time. This can lead to impulsive and emotional buying behaviour.

Roberts advises those with a shopping addiction to take urgent steps to minimise daily communication intrusions and protect their mental health.

She provides the following recommendations to improve their information selection capabilities (1):

• Add ad-blocked plug-ins and cancel email promotion subscriptions
• Delete shopping apps
• Selectively accept business information
• Increase offline social opportunities to find the satisfaction through real life encounters
• Reduce reliance on online shopping patterns

In addition, Roberts recommends the following steps, which have been shown to reduce compulsive and impulsive shopping and thereby counter addictive urges (2):

• Organise online and offline interactions to ensure a stable pace of life and healthy living habits are maintained
• Plan in advance for ‘time off’ from shopping
• Participate in sports events and outdoor activities
• Share emotional feelings with trusted friends and family to ensure you have emotional support and regulation
• Engage in emotional “training” to release stress and help manage emotions
• Practice self-reflection to strengthen abilities for rational decision-making
• Wise shopping – get better at identifying authentic information and holding prudent views on product details and promotions

“Unlike physical shopping, there are no limits to online shopping – the choice is endless, there are no time restrictions and transactions are anonymous,” she explained. “This creates a perceived psychological ‘distance’ between consumers and sellers, especially where monetary transactions are concerned. Combined, studies have shown how this makes for a far more complex decision-making environment for consumers.”

“Any addiction, including shopping, is a way of dealing with negative emotions. These can be the result of numerous factors, such as the struggles associated with work pressures, relationship issues or even past trauma. The instant ‘high’ and mood ‘boost’ that shopping creates can repress, or “numb” these emotions and detract from the root cause.”

Pamela suggests those most susceptible to addictions should set themselves a goal to create sustainable online shopping patterns that work with their individual personality and improve their living standards. They can do this by following the ABCD Practice of emotional regulation (by Andrew Seubert from his book The Courage to Feel):

A: Awareness of the emotion – name it.

B: Be with and breathe. Locate the emotions in your body and send a slow deep breath to the places you feel it. Say “yes” to the emotions and just be with it, probably tolerating the discomfort, knowing that you are safe.

C: Check the facts. Emotions are always real and valid, but you need to learn to ask if they are true. Now that you know what you are feeling and where it is in your body, you can look for evidence to support or refute it. For example, if you’re feeling anxious, you might name this emotion as fear. Fear is a response to a perception that you are in danger, or that something or someone might harm you. Is that true?

D: Decide. There are 3 options here:

1. Express.
2. Act.
3. Wait and soothe.

Using the information from checking these facts, the person can decide what to do next. This step is often optional because the above steps are likely to be sufficient to return to emotional equilibrium.

“A feeling of relief, lightness, and increased positive energy often comes after action and/or expression,” adds Pamela. “This is your emotional GPS telling you that what you did was needed, and that you’re heading in the right direction to support your needs.”

ENDS

Contact: [email protected]

About Priory and MEDIAN Group 

Priory is the UK’s largest independent provider of mental health and adult social care services. Priory treats more than 70 conditions, including depression, anxiety, addictions and eating disorders, as well as children’s mental health, across its nationwide network of sites. Priory also supports autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, Prader-Willi Syndrome and brain injuries, as well as older people, within specialist residential care and supported living facilities – helping as many people as possible to live their lives.

Priory is part of the MEDIAN Group, the leading European provider of high-quality mental health and rehabilitation services. The MEDIAN Group comprises: Priory in the UK with 290 facilities and 5,000 beds caring for 28,000 people, MEDIAN in Germany with 120 facilities and 20,000 beds caring for around 250,000 patients, and Hestia in Spain with 15 facilities and 2,100 beds caring for 11,000 people in Spain, with more than 29,000 employees across the group.

1 Sourced from Zhao et al.
2 Sourced from Zhao et al.