You loved it in the store. Now it haunts you from the closet.
在商场里它令你爱不释手，买回家后它却成了衣橱里的噩梦。
You still haven't worn that item of clothing that seemed perfect in the shop but at home seems so wrong. You can't bring yourself to get rid of it, though. It's in a corner of the closet that could be labeled 'regret.'
那件衣服在店里看起来似乎很完美，拿到家里却显得很不对劲，你到现在还没穿过。但你也舍不得把它扔掉。它闲置在你衣橱的一角，令你后悔不已。
The retail industry counts on this and knows that people buy for many more reasons than actually needing something. Sometimes the skirt or shoes were bought on a whim. Other times, a blue mood demands ill-advised retail therapy. Maybe the sale was too good to pass up. Or maybe the outfit was perfect for the thinner, edgier, wealthier person you aspired to become.
零售行业的人就是靠这个赚钱的，他们知道，除了真正需要某样东西外，人们买东西还有很多其他原因。有时候，人们会在心血来潮时买下一条裙子或一双鞋子。还有一些时候，人们会通过乱买东西来排解郁闷。也许特价促销太吸引人了，让人感觉不容错过。或者，那套衣服也许非常适合你向往的那个更苗条、更前卫、更富有的理想中人。
'Generally you like it, but it's a little tight or a little baggy. And you think 'Oh well, it's a minor flaw. It won't bother me in the long run.' Then, that turns out to be the very thing that keeps you from wearing it, ' says consumer psychologist Miriam Tatzel in Nanuet, N.Y. Other times, 'You think you might have a use for it in the future, but that day never comes.'
纽约州纳纽埃特(Nanuet)的消费心理学家米丽娅姆•泰泽尔(Miriam Tatzel)说：“总体而言你喜欢这件衣服，但它有点紧或者有点肥。你会想‘没关系，这是个小毛病。长期来看是不成问题的’。结果这个小毛病恰恰就成了你不穿这件衣服的原因。还有一些时候，你认为一件衣服将来也许会派上用场，但这一天永远也不会到来。”
Shoppers can be stuck with more second-thoughts-merchandise now as many retailers toughen their return policies. Many impose shorter deadlines for returns, among other conditions. Most retailers don't allow returns on items that have been marked down. Also, some shoppers don't return clothing due to the hassle of making another trip to the store or the hassle of packing and mailing items that were purchased online.
如今，消费者可能会有更多的买了之后又不喜欢的商品，因为许多零售商收紧了退货政策。许多商家缩短了退货期限，还增设了一些其他条件。多数零售商不允许退减价商品。另外，有些消费者之所以不退货，是因为再去趟商店很麻烦，把网购的商品包好后寄回去也很麻烦。
Only about 20% of clothes in the average person's closet are worn on a regular basis, says Ginny Snook Scott, chief design officer of California Closets, the designer of customized closets and storage spaces. That's especially the case for women since 'men tend to wear more of their wardrobe, as they stereotypically have less, ' she says. 'They tend to have less than 10 pairs of shoes that they rotate fairly well, whereas women have four to five times that amount, on average.'
California Closets是一家为客户量身设计衣橱和储物空间的公司，该公司首席设计长金尼•斯努克•斯科特(Ginny Snook Scott)说，一般人的衣橱里只有20%左右的衣服是常穿的。她说，女性尤其如此，因为“男性的衣服利用率往往比较高，他们的衣服一般比女性少。男性的鞋子一般少于10双，这些鞋子他们会经常轮换穿，而女性的鞋子数量平均为男性的四到五倍。”
Tara Johnson, a 37-year-old attorney in Webster, N.Y., finds herself with a pair of waxed denim skinny Levi jeans she bought on sale online from Net-a-Porter in November and a pair of strappy gold and black Christian Louboutin heels she bought on sale at Barneys New York in January.
37岁的塔拉•约翰逊(Tara Johnson)是纽约州韦伯斯特(Webster)的一名律师，去年11月她从奢侈品购物网站“颇特女士”(Net-a-Porter)购买了一条打折的李维斯(Levi’s)涂蜡紧身牛仔裤，今年1月份她又趁纽约巴尼斯精品百货(Barneys New York)打折时买了一双金色和黑色相间的克里斯提•鲁布托(Christian Louboutin)系带高跟鞋。
She loved how the jeans looked online and purchased them swiftly. But 'by the time they got here and I tried them on with other things in my closet, I was like 'Ehhh, it's not working, ' ' she says. 'Then I started finding reasons why I didn't like them. They're too long. I have to wear a certain kind of heel height or get them tailored.'
她很喜欢这条牛仔裤放在网上的样子，于是迅速把它买了下来。但她说：“等裤子到货，我配上衣橱里其他衣服试穿之后才发现不合适。然后我开始找自己不喜欢它的原因。原因是裤子太长了。我的鞋跟必须要达到一定高度才行，要么就得把裤腿截短。”
The jeans still have the tag on. She hasn't worn the Louboutins. Neither the jeans nor the shoes can be returned.
这条牛仔裤的吊牌还在。克里斯提•鲁布托的鞋子她也还没穿过。两样东西都不能退货。
Nikki Lafferty, a philanthropist in Los Angeles, regrets a silk wrap dress by Roberto Cavalli she splurged on two years ago hanging in her closet that she only wore twice. 'I have a 4 in front of my age. I'm holding out hope that I will feel sexy one night and have an event to wear it to where I want to look sexy, ' she says. That's not likely to happen, she says, especially as most of her events take place in Washington, D.C., among politicians. 'It's not the place to be sexy, ' she says.
让洛杉矶慈善家尼基•拉弗蒂(Nikki Lafferty)后悔的是她两年前花大价钱购买的一条罗伯托•卡沃利(Roberto Cavalli)真丝裹身裙，这条裹身裙挂在她的衣橱里，她一共只穿过两次。她说：“我是四字头的年纪了。但我仍然期望某天晚上能感觉自己很性感，希望能有机会把它穿到我想扮性感的地方。”但她又说，这种机会不太可能出现，尤其是考虑到她参加的活动大多是在华盛顿举办的，周围都是政界人士。她说：“这类场合不适合扮性感。”
Two years ago when she and her husband were remodeling their home, she retained Lisa Adams, chief executive of Los Angeles-based LA Closet Design to design her closet and help her better organize. She ended up giving away a few large shopping bags of clothes to charity, including some with the tags on. In March, she called on Ms. Adams again, believing her closet was 'bursting, ' with items causing her second thoughts. After working with Ms. Adams, Ms. Lafferty finally gave away the Cavalli dress.
两年前，当拉弗蒂和丈夫翻修住房时，她聘请了丽莎•亚当斯(Lisa Adams)为她设计衣橱，并帮助她更好地整理衣物。亚当斯是总部位于洛杉矶的储物空间设计公司LA Closet Design的首席执行长。最终，拉弗蒂把几大购物袋的衣物捐给了慈善机构，有些衣服连吊牌都没摘。今年3月份，她再次打电话给亚当斯，因为她觉得她的衣橱“要爆炸了”，其中有一些衣服她在考虑还要不要保留。与亚当斯讨论之后，拉弗蒂最终放弃了那条卡沃利裹身裙。
Shopper's remorse is different, of course, from compulsive shopping or hoarding. Buzz Bissinger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Friday Night Lights, ' set off a stir online when he chronicled his shopping addiction in an essay in the April issue of GQ entitled 'My Gucci Addiction.' He spent $587, 412.97, he wrote, on mostly flashy designer clothing between 2010 and 2012. Mr. Bissinger subsequently sought treatment for his compulsion. 'I wrote it because it was the only way I knew of coming to terms and getting the help I am now getting, ' said Mr. Bissinger in a statement emailed by a GQ spokesman.
当然，购物之后后悔与购物强迫症或囤积强迫症是不同的。因《胜利之光》(Friday Night Lights)一书而获得普利策奖(Pulitzer Prize)的巴兹•比辛格(Buzz Bissinger)在男装杂志《智族》(GQ)四月号上发表一篇名为《我的古驰瘾》(My Gucci Addiction)的文章，按时间顺序记述了他的购物癖，这篇文章在网上引起了轰动。他写道，2010到2012年期间，他曾花了587,412.97美元买衣服，其中大多是华丽的设计师品牌服饰。比辛格后来努力寻求方法治疗他的购物强迫症。《智族》发言人通过电子邮件发送的一份比辛格的声明称：“我写这篇文章是因为，这是我所了解的正视问题、获得帮助的唯一方式。”
A few years ago, when the recession made her anxious, Colette Courtion, founder of a chain of upscale anti-aging skin clinics in the Northwest, went shopping. Some of the clothes still have the tags on. She keeps them as a reminder, she says, 'to go to yoga instead of shopping.'
科莱特•考特申(Colette Courtion)是美国西北部一家高端肌肤抗衰老连锁诊所的创始人，几年前，经济衰退令她感到焦虑，于是她开始通过购物寻求慰藉。她买的一些衣服到现在吊牌还没有摘。她说，留着这些衣服是为了提醒自己“去做瑜伽，而不要去购物”。
Now she shops only when she truly needs something. 'It's not for recreation anymore, ' she says.
现在，考特申只买她真正需要的东西。她说：“现在我不再为消遣而买东西了。”
A Post-Purchase Consumer Regret Scale, developed by Seung Hwan Lee and June Cotte at what is now called Western University's Ivey Business School in Ontario, tracks reasons for shopper's remorse. Among the causes: fear that choosing an alternative might have worked out better; a change in how important or useful an item seems; a feeling they didn't put enough thought into their purchase decision; and a suspicion they spent too much time or effort buying something that later doesn't seem worth the time or effort. The scale was published in a 2009 issue of the journal Advances in Consumer Research.
加拿大西安大略大学(Western University)毅伟商学院(Ivey Business School)的李升桓(Seung Hwan Lee, 音)和琼•科特(June Cotte)设计了一份“消费者购后后悔量表”(Post-Purchase Consumer Regret Scale)，以追踪购物者后悔的原因。相关原因包括：担心选择另一件商品可能会更好；某件商品的重要性或用处发生了变化；感觉自己在做出购买决定时未能充分考虑；怀疑自己花太多时间或精力购买了后来感觉并不值得付出这么多时间或精力的东西。该量表2009年发布于《消费者研究进展》(Advances in Consumer Research)期刊。
The conventional wisdom that shoppers regret splurges isn't true, research found. In fact, shoppers most regretted, over the long term, passing up an indulgence for something practical or less expensive, according to research in the Journal of Marketing Research in 2008 by Ran Kivetz, a professor of marketing at Columbia University Business School, and Anat Keinan, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
一般人认为购物者多是为自己乱花钱而后悔，但研究显示这种看法并不正确。研究发现，事实上，从长期来看，购物者最后悔的是错过了买到某件实用的或更便宜的商品所带来的享受。这项研究是哥伦比亚大学商学院(Columbia Business School)营销学教授瑞恩•科维茨(Ran Kivetz)和哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)工商管理学助理教授阿奈特•凯南(Anat Keinan)开展的，研究论文于2008年刊登于《市场营销研究期刊》(Journal of Marketing Research)。
Michael Fanelli, a 50-year-old construction project manager who lives in New York City, still holds on to a few pairs of patterned pants from high-end label Etro he purchased years ago. When he was shopping, 'I was looking for something that makes a statement, ' he says. 'I look at them now and it's 'what was I thinking?''
50岁的迈克尔•法内利(Michael Fanelli)是纽约市的一名建筑项目经理，他还保留着多年前购买的几条高端品牌艾特罗(Etro)的花裤子。他说，他购物时“会寻找那些能彰显个人品味的东西，但现在我看到这几条裤子时心里会嘀咕：‘当时我是怎么想的？’”
Mr. Fanelli owns a lot of shirts with prints and patterns, which made it tough to match with the trousers. He occasionally wears the pants but feels self-conscious whenever he does. He keeps putting them back in his closet in part because they are 'really nice quality.'
法内利的很多衬衫都是带印花和图案的，所以很难配这几条裤子。他偶尔会穿这几条裤子，但每次穿的时候都会感到不自在。不过，他还是会把这几条裤子放回衣柜，在一定程度上是因为它们“质量真的很好”。
Of all people, Tyler Tervooren, of Portland, Ore., should be able to avoid style risks. The 28-year-old is the founder of Advanced Riskology, an online guide to taking smarter risks in life from mountain climbing to starting a business. When launching his business in 2010, he bought expensive wool sweaters, hoping to impress business associates.
俄勒冈州波特兰(Portland)的泰勒•特沃伦(Tyler Tervooren)应该比所有人都更能规避乱买衣服的风险。28岁的特沃伦创办了在线指导网站Advanced Riskology，帮助人们更好地应对生活中的风险（从登山到创业应有尽有）。2010年创业时，他买了一些昂贵的羊毛衫，希望能给业务伙伴留下深刻印象。
He wore one once. 'It just wasn't me. I'm a jeans person, ' he says. He finally donated some and sold others at a consignment shop when he moved to a smaller place in 2011.
其中一件羊毛衫他只穿过一次。他说：“这根本不是我的风格。我穿惯了牛仔裤。”最终，2011年他搬到一个比原先小的地方住时把其中一些羊毛衫捐了，另一些则在一家二手寄卖店卖掉了。
Now if he sees something in a store he might want, he will wait 10 days, to see if the feeling passes.
如今，当特沃伦在店里看到想买的东西时，他会等上10天，看看自己的购物欲会不会消失。