This Young Enterprise lesson plan helps students to explore how companies persuade shoppers to make impulse purchases.
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Impulse purchase cards downloadable from our free digital PDF magazine (optional)
Process: This activity will encourage students to explore the various methods companies use to persuade us to make impulse purchases.
Outcome: On completing this activity a child should be able to say to say the following:
"I understand that people who are selling goods and services, including financial ones, do so to make money and that I have a responsibility to become as well informed as I can before making choices, e.g. by analysing the small print in agreements, or by using comparison websites. I can describe how I can exercise both my rights and responsibilities as a consumer of goods and services."
Explain that during the activity, students will be considering the
act of impulse buying. If we understand impulse buying better,
we can make more informed spending decisions.
Begin by sharing the following statistic from a study carried out by MyJar:
Every month, we make an average of nine impulse buys, equating to 6,512 poorly planned purchases during a lifetime.
Ask the student/s what they think is meant by an ‘impulse buy’?
Responses may include:
Discuss whether impulse buying can impact our ability to save.
Ask the student/s to work in small groups (if in class).
Give each group a set of impulse-purchase cards and ask them to rank the impulse buy items from highest to lowest.
The cards are downloadable for free via the Future TalentEd digital magazine (PDF). These cards include the top 10 impulse buys in the UK.
Alternatively, you could display the cards on an electronic whiteboard.
Reveal the correct order, which you can find at the bottom of this activity.
Discuss the results: are they surprised by the top three?
Why do they think chocolate bars and sweets are top of the list?
Chocolates and sweets are inexpensive, easy to justify a small additional spend; they’re easy to grab, especially when queuing for the checkouts, etc. Most impulse buys are relatively inexpensive.
Give the student/s two minutes to talk about why people might make impulse buys.
Encourage them to think about any impulse buys they may have made recently.
Ask students to share their ideas.
Explain that the ‘feel-good factor’ often plays an important role when making an impulse purchase.
Companies use clever marketing to try to persuade us that if we consume or own a particular product, our lives will be improved and we will be happier.
Working in groups (if in class), ask the students to see if they can identify the different marketing methods that companies use to encourage us to make impulse purchases in-store.
Ask the student/s to think about online shopping. Explain that the majority of impulse buys are actually made online.
Ask if they can think of ways that shops might encourage us to make impulse purchases online. Explain that this isn’t an easy task, as the methods companies use to persuade us to buy are not always immediately obvious. Ask them to feed back their ideas.
Companies aim to make consumers’ experiences positive and fun. They use a variety of methods to make consumers feel that the shopping experience is specifically tailored for them. When consumers are enjoying the shopping experience, they’re more likely to make impulse buys.
Finish the activity by asking the student/s to reflect on their learning.
Will they be less likely to make impulse buys now that they understand the techniques companies use to persuade us to buy?
You could provide these bullet points as guidance:
Methods include:
Answers: 1) Chocolate bars/sweets // 2) Clothes // 3) Takeaways/fast food // 4) Fizzy drinks/coffee or similar // 5) Lunch/dinner 6) Books // 7) Beauty products // 8) Shoes // 9) Magazines/newspapers // 10) Underwear/socks
This piece was first featured in our Autumn/Winter 2020 issue of Future TalentEd magazine for careers leaders, parents and students.