Attention Merchants: Retail Therapy is For Real, So Stock Up On Lipstick

In the beginning, man created the wheel. And shortly thereafter, someone (probably a woman) put a shopping cart on top of it.  (After all, why waste a perfectly good wheel?)  From there, consumer behavior (otherwise know as shopping for fun) was born.

No shock, an article in the WSJ last week, The Neuroscience of Retailing confirms that there really is such a thing as Retail Therapy. No surprise to those who have shopped to feel better for the last 21 centuries, but we now have scientific evidence that shopping is fun.  Or at least it makes our hearts beat faster and our brains release serotonin.  Don't believe it? Just try shopping with a heart monitor and eye camera strapped to your body, like the subject in the article did.   And she was in T.J. Maxx.  Just imagine what happens when she's in a designer boutique. Call the paramedics.

Alas, with high gas prices and the economy in a downturn, many retailers are in a slump. But just think about the customers; they're slumping worse, poor things, depressed that they can't shop as much as they used to.

The answer? It could be as close as the cosmetics counter.  A recent article in the NY Times, Hard Times, But Your Lips Look Great discusses the "Lipstick Index".  Theory behind the Lipstick Index says that in times of economic hardship, we still need to satisfy our shopping habit. We still need to feel good about ourselves, even when world events or economic conditions make it inappropriate.  In other words, lipstick and small indulgences experience an up-tick in sales when the rest of the retail world lags.   

While there is not scientific evidence to support the Lipstick Index like we now have with Retail Therapy, my merchant common sense indicator says there's something here.  A friend of mine who worked for a large lingerie retailer confessed shortly after  September 11  that online  sales in the days immediately  following  the attacks were almost uncannily robust. Same principles apply. Something small, comparatively inexpensive and a bit self- indulgent.

So, as a retailer facing tough times, what's your "lipstick"?  What's that affordable, irresistible item that someone can buy, even if their gas bill has tripled and they didn't get a raise?  We used to point to a $4 Starbucks latte' as the affordable indulgence; but with more than three locations on every street, Starbucks hardly qualifies as an indulgence anymore. That means there's room for someone else to be the retail therapist and help people feel good, even when they can't afford it.  Chances are, if you can make them feel good when they don't spend a lot, they'll come back to you for a bigger dose of serotonin when the economy improves.