After caffeinated coffee, people spent more money and bought more goods

People who drink caffeinated coffee before or during shopping spend more money and purchase more goods than those who drink decaffeinated drinks. Moreover, after drinking caffeinated coffee, people tend to increase their shopping list at the expense of goods that bring joy and pleasure. This was shown by scientists in a series of five experiments, two of which are laboratory, and three others were carried out in retail stores with home goods in France and Spain. The article was published in the Journal of Marketing.

Caffeine is found in beverages such as coffee, tea, energy drinks, and hot chocolate. It blocks adenosine receptors, reduces drowsiness and causes a feeling of general and emotional arousal. Experiencing arousal, people can feel active, energetic and on an emotional upsurge, or vice versa – tense, irritated and nervous. Typically, caffeine at the levels found in most beverages produces the first type of arousal, and only very high doses can induce the second type in some people, such as sleep-deprived people. At the same time, it is interesting that such physical and emotional arousal is associated with impulsivity. In addition, caffeine literally makes people happier by increasing the release of dopamine, which, in turn, is again associated with increased impulsivity. Read more about how coffee affects people in our article Coffee (Won’t) Kill.

And the proliferation of coffee shops in shopping malls and coffee bars in retail stores and other establishments encourages people to drink coffee and other caffeinated drinks before or during the purchase of certain goods. However, it is still unknown how caffeine affects the behavior of buyers and their decisions to purchase certain products.

Dipayan Biswas of the University of South Florida and colleagues conducted three experiments in home improvement retail stores in France and Spain. At the entrance to these stores, customers were offered free coffee. The researchers compared how much people spent and how much they bought after drinking caffeinated coffee or a decaffeinated drink. To do this, at the exit from the store, the researchers asked customers to show the receipt. These experiments involved 96, 90 and 145 people, respectively.

Biswas and team found that people who drank a caffeinated beverage before visiting a store bought significantly more goods and spent more money compared to those who drank decaffeinated beverages. As the researchers explain, in fact, caffeine consumption increased general and emotional arousal, which, in turn, led to impulsive shopping, that is, more spending and more purchases.

The scientists also found that caffeine also influenced which products customers chose: people who drank a drink with caffeine before going shopping bought more products that the authors called hedonistic – those that bring joy, pleasure, fun and cause a fantasy game. eg, bedding and bath linens, decor items, candles and home fragrances, plants (p = 0.001). While there was no difference between the number of less hedonic items on the check, such as kitchen utensils, curtains, powders, and hangers, there was no storage basket (p = 0.86).

Additionally, the authors tested their results in two laboratory experiments that simulated online shopping. 431 people took part in them. The results of these experiments confirmed the data obtained in the field experiments described above.

However, the researchers noted that the effects of caffeine they observed persisted in people who drank up to two cups of coffee (or less) per day, and weakened in those who drank a lot of coffee.