Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Booze-fueled online shopping sessions produce surprises for some

    By Trevor Mogg | Digital Trends – Wed, Dec 28, 2011

    The thing about shopping online these days is that it’s so darn easy to buy stuff. Websites bedecked with attractive product photos and tempting offers are a breeze to browse, and once you’ve performed the simple deed of opening an account with an online store, a purchase is but one click away.

    But, as highlighted by a New York Times report on Wednesday, there’s another little discussed factor that makes it even easier for some people to hand over their cash to a virtual shop assistant, and that’s alcohol.

    You may have done it yourself. Got home from work. Settled yourself into your favorite armchair. Powered up your laptop. Mouse in one hand, large glass of wine in the other. Straight to the shopping sites. One bottle of plonk later, you’ve booked a vacation you didn’t even know you wanted.

    Indeed, the NYT’s report includes the case of Australian accountant Chris Tansey. He had more than a few alcoholic beverages one night and ended up paying $10,000 for a motorcycle tour of New Zealand. “The hang-ups of spending your hard-earned cash are so far removed from your life when you’ve had a bottle of wine,” Tansey said.

    In a survey of its British-based customers, comparison-shopping site Kelkoo said that almost 50 percent had gone online to shop after drinking alcohol. One wonders if any of those ended up buying a vacation in New Zealand.

    Alcohol was “absolutely” a factor in at least some online purchases at eBay, the website’s vice president for mobile Steve Yankovich told the NYT. He put this down to the fact that the eBay site gets the most traffic between 6.30pm and 10.30pm, a time when people are most likely to have a drink in their hand. “I mean, if you think about what most people do when they get home from work in the evening, it’s decompression time. The consumer’s in a good mood,” Yankovich said.

    Consumer behavior expert Nancy Puccinelli of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School said that for most of us alcohol has the effect of lifting our mood and making us feel relaxed, so then “if we see a product and we feel good, we will evaluate the product more positively.” Which means pretty much one thing—clicking the ‘buy’ button.

    Alcohol-induced purchases obviously aren’t all bad, but there must be a fair number which consumers regret making come the next morning. Have you ever put one too many items in your cart while shopping online slightly sloshed? Or worse, had something delivered that you can’t even remember ordering?

    [Image: Peter Hansen / Shutterstock]

    This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

    More from Digital Trends

    Best Buy oversight causes online order cancellations

    FedEx responds to computer monitor-chucking delivery man debacle

    Viral Video: FedEx delivery man throws computer monitor over fence

    How American Express is doing e-commerce right

     

    13 comments

    • Al
      Al  •  Rehoboth, Massachusetts  •  4 mths ago
      Hmmm.....That may explain the large amount of fleshlights UPS just delivered.
    • JR
      JR  •  New York, New York  •  4 mths ago
      "A fool and his money are soon parted."

      Maybe computers need those things they put in cars after people get picked up for DWI. You have to blow in a tube and if you're sauced you're internet connection switches off for the night.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Denver, Colorado  •  4 mths ago
      You can tell the alcoholics by their comments here. It seems that alcohol fuels the economy here in the U.S. So without alcohol the economy dies? No wonder alcohol is considered a benign drug while marijuana is a schedule Class A narcotic.

      Now it's revealed, the United States is nothing but a country full of boozers.
    • Swell!
      Swell!  •  Winona, Minnesota  •  4 mths ago
      I should get drunk and buy a Dodge Viper online..
    • LtDanhasnolegs
      LtDanhasnolegs  •  4 mths ago
      That explains the pony in my yard
    • Robert C
      Robert C  •  4 mths ago
      One office for AA and AAA! What a concept.
    • dumbass
      dumbass  •  4 mths ago
      Consumers are alcoholics...sounds right to me.
    • Zeb
      Zeb  •  4 mths ago
      And here I thought drinking alcohol improved your decision making abilities.

      ...I guess everyone else at AA was right.
    • mike_geno
      mike_geno  •  4 mths ago
      This also happens with #$%$ I've just heard of course.
    • K
      K  •  New York, New York  •  4 mths ago
      Great.....keep this *&%$ up and the only computers you will be able to buy will have a government mandated breathalyzer tube built in before you can get on line.
    • Paul R
      Paul R  •  4 mths ago
      What a stupid non-story this turned out to be.
    • David S
      David S  •  Mt Hamilton, California  •  4 mths ago
      What a stuped story it must be a slow news day
      • Kent
        Kent 4 mths ago
        You can't even spell stupid.
    • Super Pug
      Super Pug  •  Ponte Vedra, Florida  •  4 mths ago
      Maybe this is how Obama runs up the deficit?
     Post a comment
    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    News For You

    Loading...