Ontology Diagram
From Theory to Intervention
This funnel diagram shows how theoretical foundations inform our understanding of problems, reveal market gaps, and guide our targeted intervention. Click nodes to explore relationships.
Emotional Regulation
Shopping provides temporary dopamine hits. Understanding this psychological trigger is crucial for designing effective interventions.
Overwhelm Leads to Impulse
Too many options cause decision fatigue and impulsive choices. Our intervention simplifies by adding personal context.
Status Display Through Fashion
Fashion displays wealth and status, driven by need for social validation amplified through likes and shares on social media.
Creating Urgency Through Scarcity
52 micro-collections per year create artificial scarcity and fear of missing out, driving impulsive purchases before items "sell out."
Impulse Buying Epidemic
Online shopping compresses decision windows to 2.5 seconds. Dopamine-driven reward cycles bypass reflective cognition, transforming desire instantly into ownership.
Systematic Overproduction
52 micro-collections per year create artificial scarcity. 40% of new clothes never sell; 30% are never worn after purchase.
Zero Friction Design
E-commerce platforms eliminate barriers between desire and purchase. One-click buying and optimized checkout remove any pause for consideration.
Behavior-Intention Gap
Consumers know about sustainability issues, but style and price dominate decisions. Information alone doesn't change behavior.
Awareness Without Action
Tools like SHADE provide alternatives but don't create reflection. Information about better options doesn't stop the impulse.
Disconnected from Shopping
StyleBook helps organize closets but operates separately from shopping. Users don't consult it at purchase moment.
Wrong Question
Phia asks "Should I buy?" but focuses on deal quality, not whether you need it or already own something similar.
Our Core Intervention
A gentle intervention asking "Do you have something similar?" at the critical moment between desire and decision, creating conscious choice through brief reflection.
Brief Friction Moment
Small delays enable reflection without triggering reactance. The pause activates System 2 thinking about existing wardrobe.
Ownership Awareness
Reminding users of what they own increases satisfaction with existing wardrobe. Personal context beats abstract sustainability messaging.
Point-of-Purchase
Unlike pre-shopping awareness or post-purchase regret, we intervene at the exact decision moment when users can still change course.
Avoiding Reactance
Asking rather than commanding respects autonomy. Questions encourage self-reflection without triggering defensive responses.
Reading the Funnel
Research on retail therapy, decision fatigue, conspicuous consumption, and FOMO reveals the psychological mechanisms behind impulse buying.
Understanding these mechanisms helps identify the core problems—impulse buying, overproduction, frictionless commerce, and the awareness-action gap.
Existing tools provide information or organize wardrobes, but none create reflection at the critical moment of purchase.
Our intervention targets the precise moment where behavior can change, bridging awareness and action.
Through reflection, wardrobe context, critical timing, and non-judgmental prompting, we transform unconscious consumption into conscious choice.