• Over time, consumption has shifted from necessity to identity, amplified by the ease and accessibility of purchasing made possible through digital platforms, which has led to overconsumption. Behavioral interventions are required to reduce impulse-driven buying and curb overconsumption. 
• Introducing frictions and subscription-based experiences can curb impulsive purchases, prolong enjoyment, and reduce hedonic adaptation, helping consumers savor products, reflect before buying, and feel more satisfied with each acquisition.
• Shifting consumer identity toward sustainability helps brands satisfy social and self-esteem needs, motivate eco-conscious purchases, and reduce accumulation by linking products to stewardship and values.
• Shifting from manufactured scarcity to value-based scarcity, highlighting quality and exclusivity, continues to drive demand while increasing consumer satisfaction.

After World War II, consumption erupted. While people were encouraged to be frugal during times of scarcity and rations, to help boost the post-war economy, they began to be treated as true consumers. There was also a shift in how products were marketed—instead of focusing on their usefulness, advertising began to emphasize how owning this product was key to happiness and an extension of one’s identity.² People were encouraged to buy lavishly as a symbol of their wealth and success. This motivated individuals to work hard and earn more money, allowing them to purchase more goods, creating a never-ending cycle.

Our digital and chronically online society also drives overconsumption. TV shopping emerged in the early 1980s, but E-commerce really took off after the World Wide Web launched in 1990. A few years later, online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay were created.³ Since then, the number of online shopping platforms has exponentially increased, as has the range of products that are available to order from your phone or computer. This has made it very easy to make a purchase, which means we often don’t think twice before consuming. 

While there have been efforts to educate consumers about the harm of overconsumption, these efforts rely on rational appeals, but this does little to shift behavior, given the strong association between ourselves and our possessions. While some influencers and campaigns promote a minimalist lifestyle, this often creates a new identity that people aspire to, but paradoxically, might require additional purchases to achieve. 

To truly challenge our society of consumption, we must target the behavioral drivers beneath it. We must introduce frictions that reduce impulse buys, encourage appreciation instead of acquisition, and separate identity from consumption. 

In the past, novelty was occasional. You might receive a seasonal catalog with new clothes to purchase, tech companies like Apple had sporadic releases, and trends took a few months or years to settle. Today, we experience continuous novelty. Our algorithms push new products on a daily basis, companies have consistent drop schedules, and fast fashion creates micro-trends. 

Our digital environments are designed to drive consumption and accelerate reward cycles. Scroll through social media for just a couple of minutes, and you’re likely to see multiple ads, whether through influencer partnerships or push notifications. We are constantly bombarded with novelty, which stirs up our desire for the newest product. Humans inherently have a craving for novelty, which has only increased as tech and social media platforms reward rapid shifts of attention.⁴ 

One-click buying and same-day delivery mean that there is little time between desire, purchase, and reward. By making this cycle shorter, we’ve also shortened the duration of the reward experience. According to the hedonic treadmill, humans’ level of happiness remains relatively stable. Even when we experience a major life event, we quickly adapt to either the positive or negative feelings and return to a baseline level of happiness. 

The shift to viewing the everyday person as a consumer has moved us from utilitarian and practical consumption (buying what we need and what is useful) to hedonistic consumption, where we purchase items for pleasure.⁵ However, because of the hedonic treadmill, minor events, such as the purchase of a new product, do very little to make us happy. We may experience a small spike thanks to the rush of dopamine that accompanies a purchase, but this quickly fades.

The more we buy, the quicker our hedonic adaptation sets in. We become desensitized to the fleeting happiness we feel when we buy something, and as soon as the novelty wears off, we look for the next purchase to recreate that feeling. This keeps us in a constant cycle of wanting, buying, and adapting—never fully satisfied, but always chasing the brief high that consumption delivers.

While shifts in consumer culture and the transition to digital environments have created powerful psychological forces that motivate us to constantly consume, we can redesign environments to introduce frictions that slow the pace of novelty and increase the time between desire and action while trying to encourage savoring practices. 

While we are drawn to novelty, acquiring the latest and greatest only has a momentary impact on our happiness. To help people avoid impulse purchases, where action immediately follows desire, we must introduce frictions into shopping platforms while also encouraging savoring practices. 

Introducing Frictions

People often make impulse decisions via digital platforms because it usually only takes a few clicks to make a purchase. While this may cause an initial spike in dopamine that makes someone feel happy, they often return to their baseline level shortly after. At this time, consumers are more rational and may realize they do not need the product. That’s why in some places, governments have imposed cooling-off periods, allowing consumers to change their minds after making a purchase. In Europe, consumers have a 14-day cooling-off period during which they can cancel purchases made online, by mail order, or during door-to-door sales.⁶

However, many of these existing regulations only provide an opportunity for consumers to change their minds about a purchase after the fact, instead of introducing friction between desire and purchase. Governments could impose regulations that require companies to design their interfaces to introduce small pauses, thereby increasing the time between desire and action. For example, one-click buying could be further regulated, or 24-hour delays could be mandated for high-value purchases. This provides people with a built-in moment to pause, reflect, and consider if they really need the good or service.

Encouraging Savoring Practices through Subscriptions

Our desire for novelty leads to an endless cycle of purchases. However, subscription programs or boxes can help people savor products for a longer period of time and resist the urge to constantly buy. Subscriptions offer customers novelty in a more sustainable way, delivering products periodically. This creates a longer period between purchase and receipt, which can build anticipation and prolong the feeling of excitement that accompanies a purchase, making the return to baseline longer. 

Subscription boxes may also lead to greater customer satisfaction. When people make a choice within an environment with too many options, they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their choice. Most subscription boxes hand-pick items for customers based on their preferences, taking away the likelihood of ruminating on opportunity cost.⁷ 

Many subscription boxes also focus on experiences, which research has shown to be more resistant to hedonic adaptation. For example, KiwiCo is a subscription service that provides hands-on learning experiences for children of various ages. Each crate is designed around a project, not just delivering a product. Similar subscription boxes could be designed for adults—for example, instead of just sending a box of wines for someone to try every month, companies could add a list of suggested food pairings and recipes for people to try. This encourages people to savor the product for a longer period. 

By combining friction in the purchasing process with subscription-based approaches, we can slow impulsive consumption and extend the enjoyment of products. Together, these strategies shift shopping from instantaneous gratification to thoughtful engagement, helping consumers feel more satisfied and deliberate in their choices without sacrificing novelty or brand engagement.

In our capitalist society, products have become an extension of our identity. We view goods as a means to reflect and share our identity, or who we aspire to become. Goods are no longer solely bought for their utility, but for what they signal outward. Certain brands or products are perceived as conveying status and group affiliation. We perceive abundance as a goal that can demonstrate to the world that we are happy, wealthy, and successful; there is no longer such a thing as “enough.”

The use of consumption to signal social status is known as conspicuous consumption. While capitalism has long encouraged this type of behavior, social media has made signaling easier and more prevalent. People can make posts, stories, and threads to tell everyone about their new purchase; a new phenomenon known as conspicuous omni-signalling.⁸ 

Consumption is also tied to our sense of self-esteem. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, our esteem needs—our desire to be appreciated and respected—are a powerful motivator. That’s why marketers will often draw consumers in through promises of how the product or service will make us more attractive, confident, or popular, and ultimately, improve our self-esteem. 

Our self-esteem is also shaped by how other people perceive us, which causes us to consume products and services that act as a form of social signaling.⁹ Often, owning and showing off expensive items or demonstrating that we’re up to date on the latest trends does in fact improve people’s perception of us. For example, a 2024 study found that people rated individuals who owned a premium luxury car as having higher social status, dominance, and mating value.¹⁰ When we see people’s perception and treatment of us change as a response to what we purchase, it reinforces the idea that we need these goods to maintain our status and can lead to overconsumption. 

In a society where self-esteem, social status, and belonging are increasingly tied and reinforced by what we consume, it’s easy to see how “enough” feels impossible. We constantly seek to elevate ourselves, our image, and our self-esteem, which means buying more, more, and more. However, this link between identity and consumption can be positive if the desired identity focuses on sustainability and stewardship. 

As the dangers of climate change and environmental degradation become increasingly apparent and urgent to consumers, people are becoming more interested in making sustainable decisions. According to a 2020 GlobeScan survey conducted across 27 countries, 50% of respondents reported a strong desire to change their lifestyle to be more environmentally friendly.¹¹ By understanding that consumer preferences are changing, brands can focus on helping consumers signal this desired identity through their decision to buy sustainable products.

Companies can emphasize the sustainable attributes of their products by using qualifiers such as “made from recycled materials,” “ethically sourced,” or “carbon-neutral production.” They can also make the relationship between the product and identity clear through reinforcing language like “choose products that care for the planet,” or “curated for conscious consumers.” 

Patagonia is an example of a company that has successfully shifted its identity to one of stewardship while remaining highly profitable. Their main tag line is “We’re in business to save our home planet.” They also donate 1% of their sales to grassroots organizations helping to tackle environmental challenges.¹² By doing this, they convey that their customers embody these principles, motivating people who want to portray the same values to purchase their products.

IKEA is another company that has aligned itself—and therefore its products and consumers—with environmental stewardship. IKEA introduced a buy-back program in 2019, allowing customers to return their lightly used items for store credit. The product will then either be resold at a discounted price or donated to a charitable organization.¹³ IKEA also uses this program to market itself as environmentally conscious, further creating a link between consumption and identity.

By shifting identity from mere ownership to stewardship, brands can satisfy consumers’ social and self-esteem needs while reducing the drive for constant accumulation.

While it may seem counterintuitive, having more options and easier access doesn’t make us feel like we have ‘enough’ or are satisfied; it actually does the opposite. 

E-commerce platforms constantly create a sense of manufactured scarcity through cues such as “only two left in stock” or “limited edition.” These cues tap into loss aversion, where we make rash decisions due to fear of missing out and experiencing a ‘loss.’ Scarcity cues intentionally accelerate decision-making, allowing them to override rational thought processes. Because we live in a culture of abundance, we’re actually more sensitive to scarcity, as a small limitation seems to infringe on the limitless world we’ve come to expect. 

Recognizing that scarcity drives consumption, many brands base their entire business model on scarcity. Labubu dolls are a prime example. In 2023, Pop Mart released limited-edition blind boxes for Labubu collectibles, providing customers with the opportunity to acquire rare editions. While the dolls initially were being sold for approximately $15, this marketing tactic created a sense of scarcity and surprise that made the product seem rare and difficult to obtain, thereby increasing its perceived value. As a result, dolls were being resold for ten to twenty times their initial price.¹⁴

Since scarcity is such an effective tactic, it may seem challenging to persuade brands to change their approach. However, manufactured scarcity in a world of product abundance can backfire. Having so many options makes us more likely to regret our decision—especially when we’ve been manipulated by scarcity cues and didn’t take the time to properly evaluate our options. People are more likely to feel dissatisfied after making quick impulse purchases because they consider the opportunity cost—all the other options they missed out on by purchasing one product out of many. In a famous study looking at the effects of choice overload, researchers found that consumers were less satisfied when they purchased a gourmet jam from a choice of 24 than when they were only presented with a choice of six.¹⁵ Although companies may think that giving consumers more choice will make them happier, behavioral science suggests otherwise.

Ultimately, abundance and scarcity are two sides of the same coin: a world overflowing with options makes even small limitations feel urgent, while scarcity cues exploit this heightened sensitivity to drive consumption. When combined, consumers become trapped in a cycle of impulsive purchases followed by regret. Understanding this dynamic is the first step toward designing environments, policies, and products that prioritize intentional and deliberate consumption over endless acquisition. 

As manufactured scarcity is an effective marketing tactic, it would be a hard sell to convince brands not to use it. Instead, we can design scarcity cues that emphasize the value of a product. Instead of focusing on the fact that an item is selling quickly, brands can focus on scarcity to highlight what sets their product apart, as uniqueness is also scarce in a world of abundance where it’s easier than ever to own goods. 

In an era of mass production, emphasizing that a product is handcrafted can make it feel scarce. Instead of using a cue like “selling fast,” a company may nudge consumers by saying “luxury hand-stitched bag.” This can be even more effective than traditional scarcity cues. For example, Hermès has mastered the art of value-based scarcity. All of their handbags are hand-stitched, and each time a product is released, there are very few items available, making the purchase feel even more exclusive. Hermès intentionally ensures that supply never meets demand, emphasizing that true luxury cannot be mass-produced. It also creates a sense of trust for consumers that their products will be of the highest quality. This tactic enables Hermès to sell handbags for thousands of dollars with ease, demonstrating that consumers are willing to pay for value-based scarcity.¹⁶

Other value-based scarcity cues can include emphasizing the specialized skill set that was required to manufacture the goods, such as watchmaking or woodworking, or by highlighting that the materials or ingredients are naturally scarce. For example, artisanal products often use high-quality, rare, or ethically sourced materials. Beauty lines may emphasize that their essential oils come from rare plants, or chocolate producers can highlight that they use fair trade and equitable cocoa varieties from specific regions. 

Not only does value-based scarcity continue to drive consumption, but it also signals a level of authenticity and quality that fosters a sense of trust with consumers. This opportunity recognizes that less is often more, and people are more likely to be satisfied when there is a limited choice. 

While the interventions outlined here are grounded in behavioral science, it is important to note their limitations. 

Introducing frictions or mandatory cooling-off periods may reduce impulsive purchases but could frustrate some consumers accustomed to convenience, creating potential pushback or reduced engagement. It’s counterintuitive for companies to make buying more difficult, which is why government intervention may be necessary. While subscription models may reduce continuous impulse purchases, they can also be used as a tactic used by companies to keep consumers engaged, as people often forget to cancel their subscriptions.

Shifting identity toward stewardship requires authentic alignment with brand practices; superficial messaging risks skepticism and reputational harm. Value-based scarcity is effective for high-end products but may be less effective for mass-market goods, where quality and uniqueness are more challenging to communicate or deemed unimportant. 

Redefining Enough

Overconsumption in today’s society is a product of psychological, social, and technological forces. Hedonic adaptation keeps us chasing fleeting pleasure, identity-driven consumption links our self-worth to possessions, and the interplay of abundance and manufactured scarcity drives impulsive purchases followed by regret. Across these challenges, behavioral interventions offer opportunities to slow the pace of consumption, increase satisfaction, and promote stewardship.

Applying these insights globally has significant implications. Reducing overconsumption not only benefits individual well-being but also mitigates environmental degradation, resource depletion, and social inequality. Companies that embrace these strategies can maintain consumer engagement while promoting sustainability.

Fulfilling this vision requires collaboration between governments, brands, and behavioral scientists to design environments that nudge people toward thoughtful consumption. At The Decision Lab, we’re experts in designing positive choices for consumers and brands, and we’re passionate about climate and sustainability. Partner with us to discover innovative solutions that strike a balance between innovation and environmental responsibility. 

Reducing Online Impulse Buying for Smarter Purchases

As we’ve explored, our shopping environments often encourage quick purchasing decisions, which can override rational decision-making and leave customers regretful. In this article, we explore how modern engagement strategies facilitate impulsive consumption and how online platforms can be redesigned to help people make smarter purchasing decisions.

Reducing Water Consumption: Why You Care What Your Neighbours Think

It’s not just goods and products that we’re overconsuming: our water consumption has also risen dramatically and is of growing concern as climate change has led to more droughts and forest fires. In this article, our writer Kit Slatford explores how water consumption can be curbed through descriptive normative information that encourages people to compare their lifestyle to that of their neighbors.

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