According to the classical theory of consumerism which refers the public to the middle of the 20th century, women are discussed as the target audience of different kinds of shops.
Nevertheless, today the situation is different, and men are also interested in the process of buying new things and clothes, and they often express the same attitudes to this process as women do.
The explanation to this controversial issue is in the fact that the phenomenon of consumerism is in a constant development, and it demands new victims for the progress.
However, not all the representatives of real shoppers discuss themselves as the victims of the passion for purchasing.
Although today it is possible to buy almost everything which can be made from any material, it is significant to concentrate on the process of buying the items of the clothes because now this process has a lot of similarities for women and men and also classify the shoppers according to the peculiarities of their attitude to the process of purchasing, and discuss such types as the ‘coat-hunters’, ‘shop-addicted’, and ‘brand-loving’ shoppers.
Clothes can be discussed as a specific category of shop-products, and it can even become a kind of religion for either men or women who forget about their gender differences when they are in a huge store with a lot of departments which attracts the audience with many bright lights and vivid colors.
Nevertheless, the general attitude of the consumers to these places can be quite different as well as the attitude to the particular process of shopping.
The proper analysis of the attitude of those persons who prefer to go shopping and buy different kinds of clothes is the main goal of this classification.
The first category of shoppers can be determined according to these persons’ habit to search for the definite prey.
The attitude of the ‘coat-hunters’ to the process of buying can be compared with the attitude and behaviours of real hunters who can imagine a lot of stores and their numerous departments as the wild jungle.
However, the ‘coat-hunters’ always know what type of coats is necessary for them, and they cannot be confused with the variety of the goods presented in the stores.
Moreover, they are ready to wait for days and months till this coat or hat becomes available for purchasing or even has the magic sign ‘sale’ on it. However, the scenario of the situation can be different, and the ‘coat-hunters’ have to spend a lot of periods of time waiting for the item of their dream because they really know what they need.
Men from this category are more successful than women in looking for a necessary item because they can wait longer and act rather unemotionally while being in the store without references to the other interesting objects which can attract the women’s attention and prevent them from ‘waiting’ and ‘observing’ in the jungle.
The second category of shoppers which is important to pay attention to is the ‘shop-addicted’ persons. According to the main principle of the classification, these shoppers discuss new items of the clothes as a kind of ‘drugs’ for them.
It is necessary for these people to buy much in order to satisfy their addiction, but the effect from purchasing a new portion of clothes is not long that is why it is significant for them to come back to the places where they can find new clothes.
The ‘shop-addicted’ persons do not choose the definite element of the clothes to buy, the fact of purchasing as the process is more important for them. The typical features of the ‘shop-addicted’ people can be various.
Thus, the shop assistants of all the available departments in the store are often able to recognize the ‘shop-addicted’ persons.
Moreover, this kind of addiction is common mostly for women because of their habit to use the process of purchasing as the way to overcome certain stressful situations and to change the mood.
The next category includes those persons who suffer from the more specific kind of addiction than the representatives of the second category.
The attitude of the ‘brand-loving’ persons to the process of purchasing can be comparable with the attitude of gourmands to their favourite food, but with references to such a detail that gourmands prefer definite dishes cooked by the famous chefs, and the ‘brand-loving’ shoppers prefer all the dishes cooked by all the famous chefs.
Therefore, it is extremely important for the ‘brand-loving’ people to taste a lot of them. The ‘brand-loving’ shoppers can be often met among men who want to accentuate their acquired status with many ‘significant’ details or hide their real status under the heap of these details.
‘Brand-loving’ women usually orient to their friends, and their main task is to shock the opponent with a number of brands used together rather than with the quality of the presented goods.
There are a lot of categories and principles according to which it is possible to classify shoppers.
The presented variants of categories which are the ‘coat-hunters’, ‘shop-addicted’, and ‘brand-loving’ shoppers reflect the tendencies in the modern development of the phenomena of consumerism and fashion and accentuate the combination of these concepts with references to the shoppers as the objects of the processes, but not the subjects because the representatives of the mentioned categories form their attitude predominantly according the rules of fashion, but not according to their real desires.
The difference between the categories is also in the fact that shoppers can reject or follow the impact of fashion on the process of buying.