intelligent consuming

Shopping has become a science. A kind of modern hunt - your ammunition is money and it’s with this ammunition that you bring down your prey.

Personally, I don’t particularly like shopping. Maybe it’s because it’s work to visit stores, to shop, to observe people and hunting down trends. Simply browsing to see if there’s something you ‘might’ like, particularly if it’s something you don’t even need – simply seems like a pretty sad way to kill time.

But this is actually exactly what we do when we shop for Christmas presents – the year’s worst shopping nightmare. The shops are packed with frustrated customers, a poor selection of goods and stressed sales staff. Large signs saying: ‘Sale starts 27th January – 50% off everything!’ It is almost an affront. But we have no choice, as Christmas presents need to be bought ahead of December 24th.

This year, I was seriously thinking about buying everybody gift vouchers, but then, on the other hand, I was quite convinced that my 4-year-old son would be rather disappointed. So that plan was quickly shelved and I decided to buy everyone books instead.

Why we buy
Normally, I am a regular customer of Amazon.com, the Internet bookstore. Here, you never have to queue or deal with an overbearing shop assistant. But when it really comes down to it, there is nothing that can compete with the real thing – visiting the bookstore.

I went to my favourite bookstore, Borders, on Oxford Street in London. There is a café and sofas where you can sit down, read and relax. Luckily, book stores are a quieter experience than most of the really hectic stores at Christmas; a bit of peace is generally needed if you’re to draw on your insight and passion to choose books as presents. While wrapped up in this, I came upon a book for myself called ‘Why we buy’, by Paco Underhill. It’s an American bestseller that’s been published in another 10 languages this year.

The super saver
Most of my girlfriends love to shop. I have girlfriends from all over Europe who come to London ‘just to visit me’. In the beginning I was flattered of course, but after living here for a number of years I am convinced that a shopping trip was the primary purpose of their visits.

As one of my girlfriends from Hamburg once said “It simply doesn’t pay to travel to London, unless I go shopping – because the more I buy, the more I save.”

I subscribe to a different view based on what my old dad from the Danish West Coast once said: “There is only one way to save money – simply leave your wallet in your pocket.”

This particular girlfriend is probably what I would call a shop-aholic. I’m almost gasping for breath when I think about how much ‘shopping’ she can do in a relatively short space of time. Once, she accumulated 40 large full bags in 5 hours. When she’s across I use the catchphrase “let’s shop till we drop”, and that’s the call for us to head out onto the streets of London: from designer shops to department stores, from markets to interior design shops and from café to bar.

Last time she visited me, sterling had suddenly increased in value. She was somewhat disappointed, as she had planned to rent a small minibus to transport all her planned new purchases back to Hamburg. Thank God for the higher exchange rate!

Comfort Shopping
Of course we all know that buying things means something different to different people at different times. We can use shopping as therapy, reward, bribery, a pastime, an apology, to get away from home, or a way to woo our boyfriends or girlfriends. Entertainment, information exchange or even worship are all quite clearly shopping tendencies. There are ‘shopping-bulimics’ whom run up huge overdrafts on their bank accounts, destroy their credit ratings and trash their household budget; it is often a desperate cry for help.

In the book ‘Why we buy’ there are many interesting observations from the ‘real world’ of shopping. It sets out how men and women do their shopping in very different ways, something along the lines of how “men are from Tesco and women are from Selfridges.” There is definitely something to it; well illustrated by the fact that most men hate to shop. ‘In quick and out quick’ is their motto. They only go shopping out of necessity and they don’t want to waste their time ‘comfort shopping’.

The new spending powerOn the other hand, many women love comfort shopping; to have the personal attention and simply be seduced. I call them the gatherers - they love to browse. They are treated to a wonderful story about each product: some kind of sublime encouragement and an assurance that this is ‘just your style’. It’s as if they are buying self-confidence, acknowledgement and recognition. By 2020, more than half of all British adults will be over 50. The over-50s control the greatest spending power, and it will therefore also be them who will wield greater influence over what we buy: how, when and where.

This majority will have seen it all - "been there - done that" is their slogan. They are a highly educated consumer group, demanding the ultimateproduct and purchasing experience. My own research clearly indicates that it’s no longer enough to sell smart advertisements with sublime undertones. Products with a strong pulling power but no substance will not make it into the future.

The Silver Consumer
We are already seeing brands like Levis, Camper and Donna Karen using older models to market and channel their product towards this new consumer climate. Looking to the future, we simply have to offer new and intelligent ways to encourage the consumer to buy. Higher awareness of what we need, and what is a ‘necessity’ offers quality and above all a true ‘shopping experience’. The future is all about intelligent consuming.

Anne Lise Kjaer
January 14, 2001