‘Are you buying what you need?’: Holiday shopping advice from a marketing expert [Video]

Christmas is often the most expensive time of the year for Canadians – but it doesn’t have to be.

Yuanfang Lin, a marketing professor at the University of Guelph, studies how consumers process information.

“Psychologically, individuals tend to have the urge to meet or even exceed expectations when it comes to gift purchases,” he said.

The fear of feeling like the Grinch can lead shoppers to overspend, making impulse purchases which ultimately put them overbudget.

“Making the holiday purchase a very unique marketing phenomenon and making the last-minute purchase a very, very, interesting phenomena,” Lin mused.

He said there’s four key marketing tactics shoppers should lookout for.

The first is exclusivity: the threat of limited time or limited supplies.

The second is inclusivity: the push that may drive customers to buy within a certain time frame, or pick up more items than they intended so they can qualify for free …