When Scott, the corporate buyer at a law firm, submits a purchase order for two dozen desk staplers and 25 boxes of white copier paper, he’s pretty detached from the romance of the products. His ultimate concern is that the products meet the employees’ needs and how the numbers jibe with his budget. Since it’s not his money, he’s even less attached to the emotions surrounding the expenditure. Every time he needs something, the product is just a purchase order away. To him, buying at work is mostly a numbers game.

In contrast, most consumers making purchases for their personal use may use data to justify spending money, but it’s their emotions that ...

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