Analyze shopping as a consumer activity using the different categories of shopping activities

Place Shapes Shopping Activities

Shopping is not only an activity but an important component of a nation's economy. Many activities in the CVF and consumer behavior theory in general take place in the shopping process. What exactly is shopping? The following questions can help put shopping in perspective.

• Do consumers have to buy to shop?

• Is a store necessary for shopping?

• What motivates consumer shopping?

Every act of shopping need not culminate in a purchase. Frequently, a shopper finds that the product of her choice is out of stock and defers the buying for another time. A physical location is no longer required for shopping to take place. Online retailers have emerged as a competition for the brick and mortar stores. Shopping is not necessarily about making choices. Sometimes you might buy something inessential or unnecessary because the desired product evokes pleasant memories.

What Is Shopping?

Shopping can be defined as the set of potentially value-producing consumer activities that directly increase the likelihood that something will be purchased. Shopping activity ranges from surfing the Internet for a song to download or visiting the mall for a new item. Shopping is perceived as the inverse of marketing

Shopping Activities

Shopping activities take place over time in specific places under specific conditions or contexts. They can be divided into four different types. Any given shopping experience is characterized by at least one of these types. They are:

1. Acquisitional Shopping - Activities oriented toward a specific, intended purchase or purchases.

2. Epistemic Shopping - Activities oriented toward acquiring knowledge about products.

3. Experiential Shopping - Recreational-oriented activities designed to provide interest, excitement, relaxation, fun, or some other desired feeling. Outshopping is a term used to refer to consumers who are shopping in a city or town that they must travel to rather than in their own hometown. Outshopping is often motivated simply by the desire for the experience.

4. Impulsive Shopping - Spontaneous activities characterized by a diminished regard for consequences and a desire for immediate self-fulfillment. The reversal theory explains how environmental elements can lead to near 180 degree changes in shopping orientation.

Exhibit 11.2 provides an example of each type of shopping activity and depicts the type of shopping value generally used with each type.