Boomers are great at avoiding impulse buys, but every generation gives in to this 1 trigger. Are you falling for it too?

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 for 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 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 that align with their values. Baby boomers, on the other hand, are more conservative, though the Salsify report found that while only 53% make impulsive purchases, this increases to 63% after being swayed by a discount.

Popular impulse purchases include clothing (particularly fast-fashion), food and beverages, beauty products, electronics and entertainment. Throw in a discount, and it becomes even more tempting.

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.

Getting impulse buys under control

This is especially true around the holidays. With Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas coming up — 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 a budget 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, 30% to discretionary items, and 20% to savings and investments), 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 your net worth daily 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 could be worked into your budget.