Per a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology titled ""Wetting the Bed at Twenty-One: Embarrassment as a Private Emotion," people can feel just as embarrassed buying sensitive products in person as they would online. This seems to go against common knowledge, doesn't it? You'd think that people would feel less sheepish buying condoms, home test kits, tampons, and Viagra privately and online, but the study finds that not to be the case. Apparently, the mere act of purchasing the item causes consumers to judge themselves. When the purchase is made at the store, we can at least walk out and remove ourselves from the very context in which the "act" was committed. While the study found that the negative feelings associated with in-store purchases gradually dissipated, the intensity of embarrassment felt when buying the products online did not lessen. If you think about it, embarrassment is a powerful emotion. It's potent en...

Consumers generally try to expend as little brain power as necessary before and while shopping. For example, most of us would easily be swayed into buying a particular product after seeing the word "Sale" slapped on the price tag. But did you know that retailers generally mark up the price so much to begin that you're not getting much of a deal at all? Thanks to advertising, we've come to associate words like "sale" and "discount" with must-have products. Unfortunately, very few of us actually take the time to tally everything up en route to the cash register and determine whether we're truly scoring a bargain. Marketers know that unless they can lead you to think you're getting a deal, they'll likely have a hard time getting you to open that wallet. Marketing is all about psychology. More specifically, marketing is all about perception. You don't need to be getting a spectacular deal -- you just need to think you are. Even...