Trivia

Hard

The Advent Of Smartphones Put A Dent Into The Sales Of?

Dictionaries
Chewing Gum
Comic Books
Televisions
Image of an unbranded pack of chewing gum.
SketchArtist/Wikimedia

Answer: Chewing Gum

Smartphones have certainly changed a lot of things, like the way we communicate and the way we consume media. They’ve also changed our purchasing habits—but not in the way you might think.

While smartphones have certainly invited us to comparison shop (who hasn’t found a better deal online while standing in a brick-and-mortar store, smartphone in hand, after all), one of the biggest changes they’ve created is a decrease in checkout line impulse purchases. Think of all the items lined up along the checkout line. Now think about all the time people aren’t looking at them because they’re playing with their smartphones, killing time as they wait.

The increased time we’re all spending on Facebook and playing Candy Crush in checkout lines has, well, decreased the time we’re looking at actual candy. According to market research, the amount of gum purchased (a staple of checkout line impulse purchases across the country) has fallen since the introduction of the iPhone and the rise of ubiquitous smartphones in 2007.

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