The Therapeutic Utility of Shopping: Retail Therapy, Emotion Regulation, and Well-Being

We explore how shopping could contribute toward the regulation of negative feelings and engender, what we call, therapeutic utility. Building on and synthesizing prior research on motivation theory, emotion regulation, and compensatory consumption, we propose a conceptual framework that illuminates the different sources of therapeutic utility in shopping based on four primary motives in consumption—affective-preservation, affective-growth, cognitive-preservation, and cognitive-growth. Importantly, our framework acknowledges that consumers can engage in retail therapy without pursuing any concrete purchase goals or any actual purchases. Taking a needs perspective, we discuss potential mechanisms for therapeutic utility through shopping and propose directions for future research.