Key fashion and beauty items add to shopper happiness - survey

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 30, 2021

Fashion and beauty items are among the products that make consumers feel happiest when they buy them online, a new study shows, with sneakers and eyeshadow palettes both on the happiness list.

Money.co.uk spoke to 2,500+ UK consumers and found that trainers (sneakers) are the online purchase that makes us third happiest of all — improving happiness levels by 64%.

On average, online purchases are found to raise our positive feelings by 56%, but items in the top 10 generate more happiness than that. A houseplant and a gaming console are the only items that rank higher than sneakers in the list, while also in the top 10 are exercise clothing on 61% and fashion jewellery on 60%. They’re at numbers nine and 10 respectively.

Meanwhile, fashion jewellery, jackets, beachwear and dresses are some of the other fashion purchases that place in the top 15.

Moving on to beauty purchases, the study also showed an eyeshadow palette to be the beauty product that gives people the biggest feel-good boost, improving happiness by 62% and ranking seventh overall. That's interesting given how weak sales of make-up have been in the last year due to the pandemic.

Other beauty products that rank in the top 20 include perfume, nail polish and lipstick — again, all products that are unlikely to have been top of many priority lists in a year of lockdowns.

The fact that consumers still rate them so highly suggests there could be a shopping boom in these areas post-lockdown. The UK spends three times more when online shopping compared to the global average, so it's good news that such shopping makes consumers feel good.

Participants in the study were asked to complete a variation of the BMIS test (Brief Mood Intensity Scale) and record the intensity of 10 different emotions after making an online purchase. The intensity of each emotion was allocated a score based on its positivity, with a maximum score of 500 points per item – the higher the score, the better. Participants were also asked to complete the same test before making any purchases to uncover the percentage increase in positive emotions when shopping.