Need an excuse for splurging on yet another pair of shoes or that skirt you snapped up at lunchtime? Well, you might well have one as a new study says women hit the tills harder than normal when they’re at their most fertile…
Previous research has shown that ovulation can shift dating habits - making women more likely to seek out new partners. Now new research has found it has an affect on their buying habits too.
Professor Kristina Durante, of Texas University, carried out a study of more than 500 women aged between 18 and 40, discovering that they sought a wider variety of items when ovulating – an impulse that extended to their love-life.
Kristina explained: ‘Just like a fisherman casting a wide net, ovulating women seek to cast a wide net into the dating pool and expand the number of potential suitors they have to choose from.
‘This desire for variety in men at ovulation triggers a variety-seeking mindset that carries over into desire for variety in products.’ Interestingly however, the desire seemed to wane when women were asked to imagine themselves ‘in a loving relationship with a desirable partner’ or when married subjects were asked to put on their wedding rings.
The study's findings have practical implications for marketers and Kristina warns: ‘For about a week every month normally cycling women – constituting more than a billion consumers – may be especially likely to respond to appeals by competing brands.’
Ladies, you’ve been warned…
By Sofia Zagzoule