Boomers are best at avoiding impulse buys — yet all generations cave to this one trigger. Are you guilty of it too?

There’s a reason why impulse buying is so fun (at least in the moment): The immediate gratification of a new purchase releases dopamine, giving you a rush of excitement (1).

But that feeling is fleeting. And it can leave you feeling worse if you’ve gone over-budget or racked up charges on your credit card.

An impulse buy is a spontaneous purchase, often driven by emotion or fear of missing out (FOMO). Retail shops and ecommerce sites are designed to encourage these types of unplanned purchases — like the candy rack in the checkout lane at a grocery store.

While a chocolate bar might not set you back financially, regularly making impulsive purchases can add up over time.

Baby boomers appear to be best at avoiding them. Nearly three in four (74%) millennials said they make frequent or occasional impulse purchases, according to a survey by Attentive, followed by Gen X (69%), Gen Z (63%) and baby boomers (53%) (2).

But all generations are susceptible to this one trigger: discounts.

The appeal of the discount

Maybe you manage to resist an impulsive purchase online, even after it’s been sitting in your cart a while, and you move on with your life. Then, you get a message from the retailer, reminding you that you’ve “left something behind” in your cart. Oh — and there’s a 10% discount if you buy it right now.

A whopping 70% of shoppers say they’ve made an unplanned online purchase after receiving a discount offer, according to the Ecommerce Pulse Report: Q2 2025 from Salsify and the Digital Shelf Institute (DSI) (3).

“One of the biggest motivators for impulse buys is a juicy discount,” according to Salsify, in reference to the report’s findings (4).

Discounts come in many forms. In a brick-and-mortar store, it may come in the form of a sale or limited-time promotion. Online, you might receive a promo code or a message notifying you of a flash sale, creating a sense of urgency.

Here, too, generations respond differently. Gen Z is “especially responsive to mobile-first shopping experiences, real-time offers and influencer-driven deals,” according to Salsify, while millennials are “pros” at impulse buying, using deal-driven events to “buy something special or unexpected.”

Gen Xers aren’t immune to the rush of impulse shopping, but they still want to make smart choices. Baby boomers, on the other hand, are more conservative, though the Salsify report found that 63% of baby boomers have made an unplanned purchase after being swayed by a discount (5).

So, while only 53% of baby boomers make impulsive purchases, this increases to 63% when a markdown is involved.

A majority of Canadians (59%) make impulse purchases, according to BMO’s Psychology of Spending report, with 52% regretting those purchases after the fact. Common impulsive purchases include clothing (57%), dining out (52%), shoes (39%), books/magazines (38%) and music/movies (31%) (6).

But jumping on discounts — regardless of whether you need the product — can be counterintuitive. No matter how you justify a deal, if you don’t actually need the product, then you may end up spending more than you can afford.

“On average, Canadians spend $310 a month on items they want but do not need, and believe they could save over two-thirds of this amount if they made an effort to limit their spending,” according to the BMO report.

It also found that 43% of Canadians sometimes spend more in a month than they earn. And one in three (31%) had to borrow money or take out a loan to pay for non-essential items (7).

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Getting impulse buys under control

With the holiday season in full swing — and with discounts and ‘limited-time’ deals galore — it can be extra hard to resist impulse buys.

Even if you have a budget, deals and discounts can make it challenging to stick to that budget. But having one can help in other ways.

For example, if you follow the 50-30-20 budgeting rule (50% of your income goes toward fixed monthly bills, 20% to savings and 30% to discretionary items), you may have some wiggle room in your discretionary fund for small splurges or impulse buys.

Another method is the 0.01% net worth rule. In this case, you determine your net worth (total assets minus total liabilities) and allow yourself to spend 0.01% of that figure on guilt-free purchases.

That doesn’t mean you should splurge regularly. Before making an impulsive purchase, it’s worth considering if the ‘deal’ is really a deal. For example, maybe you can get a discount by buying a product in bulk, but will you be able to use it all up before it expires?

If possible, sleep on it. You might wake up in the morning and decide you don’t really need that item after all. If you still want it, you have some breathing room to figure out if and how it ccan be worked into your budget.

Always keep receipts so if you have buyer’s remorse (or you’ve gone over-budget), you can return the item. Beware that some discounted items are final sale.

You could also try to avoid being tempted in the first place. Unsubscribe from marketing emails that entice you with deals and avoid browsing online stores — particularly late at night or when you’re bored.

It’s okay to treat yourself occasionally. The key is to stay on track with your financial goals rather than getting sidelined with impulsive buys for stuff you don’t actually need.

Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

Cleveland Clinic (1); Attentive (2); Salsify (3, 4,5); BMO (6,7); Bankrate (8)