Types of shoppers

With a plethora of shopping malls available to city dwellers today, be it a well-established shopping mall in town or a new chic boutique in our neighborhood, consumerism is definitely on the rise in many cities around the world and is showing no signs of slowing down anywhere in the near future. People of all ages engage in some form of shopping every now and then, whether they enjoy it or not; some people shop out of necessity, whereas others do it for leisure. No matter what your reasons for shopping are, all of us have our own unique shopping habits that are closely linked to our personality and spending power. Thus, our shopping habits can be a rather accurate reflection of our character, though this may not always be true as there may be other factors influencing our decision when it comes to making a purchase at a store, such as the lack of resources or time. Also, the various types of shoppers tend to end up spending different amounts of money after each shopping trip, with some who spend way over their budget, and others who keep it close to theirs, or even end up not buying anything at all. Therefore, I believe that shoppers can be categorized according to their shopping habits into five main groups. These are the five types of shoppers ranked according to their tendency to overspend: the impulse shopper, the bargain shopper, the target shopper, the fussy shopper and the window shopper.

Impulse shoppers

First, we have the impulse shoppers who buy things mostly based on their whims and fancies. These are the people who are most likely to end up overspending, as their spending habits depend greatly on their emotional state. They may not have anything in particular which they want to buy, but will still go on a shopping spree or engage in ‘retail therapy’ when they are feeling down or upset. In the recent decade, ‘retail therapy’ has become the new found solution for urban folks to deal with the high level of stress they face at work or in school. For those who engage in ‘retail therapy’, they believe that spending money or buying something new from a store can help to elevate their mood by distracting them from their existing problems or unhappiness. The beautiful displays in front of the stores also attract these impulsive shoppers like bees to pollen grains. They are also very easily persuaded by the salesperson in the store to purchase the goods, especially when they receive compliments from others in the store or even patronizing ones from the salesperson. Hence, even though they may not know exactly what they want or need when they first enter the store, these shoppers usually walk out of the store with a handful of bags, full of their new purchases. Instant gratification from buying something new is usually more important than keeping to their budget for these people, thus, reality usually only hits them when they receive their bills at the end of the each month and get a shock out of it. More often than not, these shoppers end up regretting their many impulse purchases and may even try to return them to the store and request for a refund.

Bargain shoppers

Next, there are the bargain shoppers who are constantly hunting for discounts at the stores. These shoppers love looking out for all sorts of available discounts at the shopping mall, be it a store-wide discount, a member’s discount or even a credit card discount. Some of these shoppers even limit themselves to only buying items that are on sale. They enjoy the thrill of being able to acquire items at a lower retail price, and often feel that they got themselves a really good deal from the sale at the store. Shopping is more of a leisure activity for these people and walking around the mall looking for store discounts add on to the joy and excitement of shopping. Even though it is true that these bargain shoppers often buy their goods at a lower price, they usually end up buying a lot more other items on sale at the store which they do not really require. A common excuse they will give themselves is that they are actually saving a significant amount of money in the long run by getting everything they need during the sale. Hence, they also have a tendency to overspend despite their aim of trying to reduce their own spending by purchasing only items on sale.

Target shoppers

Third, we have the target shoppers. These people are usually very fast shoppers as they deem shopping as more of a task or chore than a leisure activity. Generally, this group of shoppers consists mostly of men, as they prefer not to waste their time walking around aimlessly at a shopping mall. They will usually have a list of items they want or need to purchase before heading down to the stores to look for them. Planning before shopping is very important to this group of shoppers, as they do not like wasting their time walking around the store to browse for things they need to purchase. They will mostly stick to their shopping list and head straight to the section of the store to get those required items and proceed on to the cashier for payment. Efficiency is of utmost importance when it comes to shopping for these people. Target shoppers shop mostly out of mere necessity, as they do not enjoy the process of leisure shopping, unlike the bargain and impulse shoppers. Thus, they tend to keep to their budget as it is quite unlikely for them to purchase anything that is not in their shopping list.

Fussy shoppers

Then, there are the fussy shoppers who are nightmares for many sales assistants at the stores. These shoppers can be very indecisive and always take an obscenely long time before settling on a purchase. They will often terrorize the sales assistants at the store with a myriad of unreasonable requests. These hard-to-please shoppers will often linger in the store for a very long time while browsing through every item before picking out a few that they fancy. Even after selecting those items that they want to buy, these picky shoppers will take their own sweet time to consider if they should purchase the selected items. They also like to bombard the salesperson with difficult questions about the items they plan to buy. If they are given a satisfactory answer, they will then proceed on to examining the items in detail to look out for any minor flaws while reconsidering if they are worth their prices before heading to the cashier for payment. Sometimes, these overly fastidious shoppers may not even buy anything at all despite trying on a myriad of displayed items and asking a truck load of questions about the shop or a particular item for sale, as they only want to buy the best despite being on a budget. As a result, these fussy shoppers are usually able to keep to their budget for shopping as they often have a hard time finding things at the stores to buy, especially with their demanding shopping criteria.

Window shoppers

Lastly, we have the window shoppers who mainly walk around the shopping mall aimlessly. In most shopping malls, the bulk to the crowd is made up of such window shoppers. These people range from students who do not wish to go home after school, to couples who are on a date, to housewives who are bored at home. These shoppers are the exact opposite of target shoppers, as they view shopping as a form of leisure and enjoy walking around the mall even if they are not planning to buy anything at all. They often appear in pairs or groups, and may only walk around to admire the new items displayed on the racks of the stores or casually browse through them, as they have no intention of making a purchase. They may even try on different items in the stores but will most probably leave the store empty handed. For this group of shoppers, the joy of shopping lies mainly in the process and not the outcome of it. Therefore, they may not spend any money at all most of the time unless something interests them along the course of shopping.

These are the five main groups of shoppers that can be found at any shopping outlet and most of us will probably be able to relate to one of these types of shoppers. Shopping has become such a vital part of our lives in today’s world, thus, it is essential for us to identify our own shopping habits in order to avoid overspending on unnecessary things and also help us gain the most out of our shopping trips.