How COVID-19 has increased the risk of compulsive shopping behavior and online shopping addiction among teenage consumers

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of digital businesses in Indonesia. However, this positive economic development has also led to unfortunate, unintended consequences, including a significant enhance in reliance on online shopping.

People who spend more than they can afford to gain social status through shopping or to satisfy unmet needs such as love and affection are prone to “compulsive shopping behavior or shopping addiction‘.

The development of e-commerce

The rapid growth of e-commerce markets during the pandemic has increased the risk of shopping addiction, especially in societies where digital technology is at a high level, such as Indonesia, where the exploit of online shopping platforms such as Shop, TokopediaAND Bukalapak has become a trend among teenage people.

Adding pressure to teenage Indonesians are the successive mega sales taking place throughout the year, such as the Tokopedia Anniversary Sale on 17/08, Lazada Singles Day on 11/11 and Indonesia National Shopping Day (Harbolnas) on 12/12.

These events, both individually and collectively, encourage teenage Indonesians to make larger purchases than necessary to meet their needs.

Compulsive buying among youth is not driven solely by the desire to possess products. Rather, motivating factors include a sense of status, dominance, power, and prestige associated with owning certain goods.

Indonesia is a huge market for online stores. This means that many people are at risk of becoming addicted to online shopping.

Global consulting firm Bain & Company estimates that Indonesia’s digital consumer population will grow by about 15%, 144 million in 2020 to 165 million in 2021.

Sensitive teenage consumers

The rise in consumption could expose the vulnerabilities of a gigantic part of Indonesian society, where financial literacy and savings rates are relatively low.

A 2020 survey of 5,592 Indonesians from different demographic groups found that approximately 21% Indonesians save very little money from their monthly income, while Indonesian households save on average only 8.5% their total income.

Despite the experts’ opinion that the threshold of responsible saving should be be 20% To ensure they have adequate financial protection for rainy days, even high-income households in Indonesia try to save below this threshold (at 12.6%).

Juvenile people whose main goal is to present themselves to the world as a prestigious and high-ranking person will spend too much money without considering their future.

With their “live in the moment” attitude, millennials may put a lot of effort into keeping up with the latest trends, showcasing them on social media to gain approval from others and potentially boost their self-esteem.

Social media can give the younger generation the opportunity to evaluate themselves and explore, express and refine their identity by comparing themselves to others.

By enabling teenage people to follow the lives of celebrities and well-known individuals from all walks of life, social media provides an avenue to raise aspirational standards for developing an idealized identity.

However, teenage people can fall victim to unrealistic expectations, comparing themselves to edited photos and a manufactured lifestyle that may have nothing to do with reality.

This can lead to a loss of self-confidence due to the feeling that any achievable lifestyle will not match idealized ideas in terms of social and financial status.

Excessive exploit of social media is believed to expose youth to different identities in a way that may cause identity confusion.

In the psychological literature, confusing the “ideal” and “actual” identity is referred to as “[fragmented identity]’ and social media has been accused of undermining a healthier image of ‘unified identity’.

The average age of an Indonesian 31.8 years highlights the increased risk of the country’s citizens falling into a trap of identity confusion.

At the same time, as teenage people struggle with a fragmented identity, they are often inundated with an endless stream of advertisements for consumer products, and the combination of these can lead to the development of compulsive buying.

At the stage of identity formation, teenage people try to impress their peers by increasing their consumption of material goods.

In this context, social media can be criticized for promoting materialism and encouraging consumerist attitudes in society.

If we are to confront and resolve the tensions that arise from immersion in the idealized lives presented on social media, both parents and the education system have an crucial role to play.

Observing the saving habits of parents can instill similar behaviors in teenage people from a teenage age. While financial education in school can also support and develop this positive modeling by improving financial knowledge and skills.

A financially literate younger generation will be better equipped to avoid compulsive shopping behaviors that are becoming more common in increasingly materialistic societies.