Imagine you’re out shopping, but before you can even enter the store, you’re asked to share your personal information. Once inside, you’re offered free samples, but you have to give your credit card details before you can try them.
For every item you browse, you’re told there’s only a few left in stock, or how many people may have looked at or bought the same thing that day. Randomly, every few seconds, a loudspeaker announces what another customer has recently purchased. For the offers you don’t take up, staff make you feel guilty about saying no, some even commenting that you must just prefer paying more.
Once you finally arrive at the checkout, you notice that other items have been added to your basket – items you never looked at or intended to buy. You walk out of the store, but you keep receiving calls about items that you had put in your basket, but then put back, pressuring you to reconsider purchasing these items.
More than eight in 10 Australians (83%) have lost money, lost control of their data or have been manipulated by a business to make a choice that isn’t in their interest
This sounds like a perverse retail experience, but this is exactly what it’s like for so many Australians when shopping online. Welcome to the world of ‘dark patterns’.