Global online shopping generates vast sums of money each year. According to Capital One Shopping, global online shopping revenue totaled $3.64 trillion in 2025, and industry analysts estimate that will increase to more than $5 trillion by 2030.
Inflation-related price hikes have raised the cost-of-living by a considerable amount in recent years, and that’s led many consumers to wonder where they can save. Reducing reliance on online shopping, where it’s easy to lose track of spending, might be one avenue worth exploring. Capital One Shopping notes online shopping revenue in the United States in 2025 was equivalent to an estimated $4,267 per adult. While much of that spending might have been on necessities, some also might have been impulse purchases. For consumers concerned by an increased cost-of-living, these three strategies to corral online spending could be a difference maker.
Turn off phone notifications from online retailers. The days when sales were exclusive to holidays and the holiday season are a thing of the past. The online retail giant Amazon now offers an assortment of multi-day sales events throughout the year, and these events typically are held at times of year like March and October when consumers might otherwise not be looking to spend. But it can be hard for shoppers to resist deals that can be had in the blink of an eye via an app on a smartphone, even when they are not necessarily looking to buy. One way to corral such spending is to turn off phone notifications from online retailers. Doing so means you won’t be alerted to sales, which may reduce the likelihood you will shop impulsively.
Incorporate patience into your online shopping to overcome the emotional attachment. A 2025 report in Psychology Today explored the concept of emotional shopping, which is marked by a strong belief that money spent on a given object will guarantee positive emotions. One way to overcome that, and thus corral online spending, is to resolve to wait before purchasing an item. While it can be hard to deny the immediate emotional benefit of buying a given item, resolving to wait 24 to 48 hours before adding an item to your online cart and ultimately purchasing it might help consumers overcome that instant yet potentially fleeting feeling of excitement. After time to think it over, consumers may feel as if the item was not vital, after all.
Remove stored data from online retailers. Features like “one-click shopping” help to foster the notion that online shopping is the simplest and most convenient way to shop. But such convenience may come at a steep cost, as consumers whose payment data is stored on online retailers might find themselves making a purchase before they had even a brief amount of time to mull it over and consider their finances. By removing stored data from online retailers, consumers are ensuring they get that time, however brief it may be. And if forced to enter their payment data each time, consumers may tire of that and ultimately end up spending less and saving more.
