Oct 22, 2009

Fighting Back Against Shoppers’ GuiltBy Christina PassarielloOnline.WSJ.com

In the past year, the guilty pleasure of shopping has turned to plain old guilt.

Guilt has always been part of the shopping experience. But retail executives say it has become such an overriding emotion among shoppers since the economic crisis set in last year that it is delaying the recovery of the luxury-goods industry. Shoppers are suffering from “luxury shame,” consulting group Bain & Co. said in a research report earlier this week.

Right now, guilt is the single biggest problem in the way of getting people to shop again, said one executive of a European luxury powerhouse—although he declined to be identified for fear of sounding too negative about his outlook.

“Guilt has really increased in the last year,” says Martin Lindstrom, a brand strategist and author of “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.” “It can hamper any other good feelings” about shopping, he says.

Now some luxury brands are emphasizing marketing tactics that they hope will push away the guilt and reboot consumers’ desire to spend. That can mean touting a special justification for splurging—profits are channeled to a charity, for instance—or offering novel shopping experiences that can make people forget their guilt.

“It used to be about keeping up with the Joneses, and now it’s about outsaving the Joneses,” says Alexis Maybank, the co-founder of Gilt Groupe, which organizes online, by-invitation-only 36-hour sales of high-end merchandise from labels such as Burberry and Matthew Williamson. “We need to encourage people to get excited about fashion.” (The double entendre in her company’s name dates from an era—2007—when the guilt that went with shopping was far less disruptive.)

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