REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

INTRODUCTION

Shopping is good for society it connects the people and brings new things which
is also accepted by the society. Shopping proves to be more of a chance for an outing
rather than going out to buy some thing they actually need. When confronted with
numerous options available to a compulsive shopper, they will feel their trip was not
wasted so that’s why they go every day which become habit of it.

Shopping mania refers to those people who are crazy about the shopping. They
wanted to do shopping daily or twice in a day. When people do shopping daily or twice in
a day they will bring unnecessary thing which was not more in use. Some of people do
shopping daily to show the society that they have much money to spend but actually they
create many problems for society. Some times these people influence others and in result
those people began to start shopping. The addicted person gets into a vicious circle that
consists of negative emotions like anger and stress, which lead to purchasing something.
Shopping mania will never be very effective in any society as we know that excess of
anything will not effective rather than it’s a drug, smoking or shopping. During my
research I find out the main causes of shopping on society and also tell the ways how one
can rid from it.

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 REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

METHODOLOGY

My research is totally based on secondary data or observation.

The main sources are:-

• NEWSPAPER

• ARTICLES

• INTERNET

• BOOKS

• DGITAL LIBRARY OF HEC..( Blackwell synergy)

During my research firstly, I write the main points of my report and than I collect
the data reminding the main points from internet, books and newspaper. After collecting
my data I study the whole data and neglect irrelevant information from it and than I
rearrange the data in a specific order. Actually the main purpose of my report is the
critics on shopping mania so I looked at the causes of shopping mania. How it exploit the
society? Or which people exploit it? For this purpose I read the newspaper and articles
where I found the case study which tells how shopping mania exploit the family
relationship and create problem between them. I also include tables or graphs which
show the percentage of shoppers who spend lot of money on shopping. I also read
different impacts one of the main are credit card which give free hand for shoppers to
spend money more. I also study the ways how one can reduce or overcome it.

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 REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

SHOPPING
Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with intent to
purchase. Shopping is the activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is
considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one. Two types of shopping:

• Physical Shopping
Physical shopping means while shopping you are physical present out
there. Normally the time of the stores are 9:00 am to 10:00 pm and if you need anything
after the time you have to stay one day. Secondly you need time to go there search the
thing you want and than buy it.

• Online shopping
Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase
products or services over the Internet. It also helps when the stores are closed, go online.
Watch TV, use your mobile phone or look at catalogues and than shop through them. So
it’s easy for people to come out from their house search the thing in different malls and
than purchase it.

“SHOPPING MANIA ”
Addiction was a term used to describe a devotion, attachment, dedication,
inclination, etc. Nowadays, however, the term addiction is used to describe a recurring
compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful
consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life. Factors that have
been suggested as causes of addiction include genetic, biological/pharmacological and
social factors. But have you ever thought about shopping as an addiction? For most
people shopping means new clothes, odds and ends for the house or little gifts for

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friends. However, shopping takes on an entirely different meaning for others any
addiction is somehow harmful.

“Smoking may cause cancer, drinking may cause not just health,
but also psychological problems, gambling may cause a financial crisis”.

Shopoholism
"There are certainly a lot of commonalities among shopoholics and
other addicts," For instance, while alcoholics will hide their bottles, shopoholics will
hide their purchases."

What else should a concerned family member or friend look out for when they
think shopping has become a problem?

o Spending over budget

o Hiding the problem

o Compulsive buying.

Compulsive shoppers tend to hide their purchases due to the financial and family
problems they cause. They avoid talking about shopping and especially about their own
behavior. Many shopoholics even create new credit card accounts unknown to others.
Relationships in families begin to deteriorate when a compulsive shopper starts spending
more and more money and time away from home to shop, creates more and more debt,
covers up debt with deception and starts to isolate him/her from family. “Shopoholics”
even start to hide their purchases, just like alcoholics hide bottles.

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“COMPARISON BETWEEN
TWO FAMILIES”
There is a case study between two families each of them having the same income  

and basic housing situation community but yet one of them exploit the society due to  

access of shopping. 

First Family  
          One family makes careful decisions about their economic  

and social activities and thus is working for their own self preservation. Even  

while spending little and saving much.

Second Family
                  The other family blindly goes on its way leaving a trail of  
social and spiritual destruction in its wake. They consume and spend and go  

deeper into debt.

ONE Family                                Second
Family

• The One family maintains a "wish   Where as in Other Family, They watch  

list" of things that they decide they   lots of TV and advertising suggest that  
need in their home­ Not that   what they should want.
advertising suggests that they  
should want.
• When they decide on a   Purchases of this family are made on  
purchase, They pay the local   credit which can add up to 28% or  

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REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

merchants in cash unless they   more interest to the purchase price.
choose to use a credit card  
because of interest rate.
• If an household item breaks, a   Where as in this family, when a house  
repair is made. If this is not   hold item breaks they threw out and  
possible than used an alternate   used new one.
sources. 
• The new items buy this family   Where as they though if the items break
they used new one.
are treated as though they have  
to last a lifetime
• If they don't need the item they   Their house is a mess, full of clutter  
take it back. If they bought too   and junky products that break and get  
much of something, they take it   thrown out
back.
• They spend only on that thing Their self image is dependent on what they
which has a certain need and can wear, drive and where they spend money
live life time. and do they spend it.
• Where as they went to their They literally go out of their way to  
neighbors and help them as they
could.
drive by or even walk up to neighbors'  
fences to show off the latest thing.
• This family practices short,   They only do short term planning.
medium and long­term  
planning.
• They are not brand conscious, if the They are brand conscious and they  
product is not available they used
alternative in low price.
only buy that thing which have high  
prices to show.

ADDICTION…….?
(C
ASE STUDY)

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During my research, I found an article on shopping mania which discussed the

family benefits and problems in-depth and I sure that this will benefit for my report. Here
there is the summary of that article.
You sometimes listing that every husband insists that his wife is suffering from
shopaholic and this was true by a search that 90% of all shopaholic are all women’s.
These are those people who are out of control. Actually people do that it’s a chance for
outing rather than going to buy some thing so they feel their trip was not wasted.
Shopping is good for society it connects the people and brings new innovation but excess
of shopping may badly affect the society and most of them the family relation ship. A
couple told the audience that their marriages and financial position had nearly collapsed
when the wife had hidden her addiction to shopping from her husband. She lying to her
husband about every thing she bought saying that they were gifts from other people.
Day by Day his wife lying with his husband and her attitude toward his husband
is totally changed through time. His husband had no clue what is going on but one day
his husband is in real trouble and he needs some money but he finds that his cheque was
bounced from saving account. He realizes that his wife is totally ill and she must be in
need of counseling and at the end they separated. In some cases shopping is needed to
boost self-esteem. But excess of every thing is always bad.

“FACTS & FIGURE

ON
SHOPPING MANIA”

o Student’s data
Data shows that when a student take admission in a school or
universities, the month before the school start he will shop to much than ever.

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Student
Percentage of shopping

Two month before school

start 16.5%
One month before school 41.9%
start
1-2 week before school 32.5%
The week school start 6.6%
After school start 2.5%

o Gender basis

Fewer females than males have used the Web for shopping at least once.
The figure shows the percentage as following:

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REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

“HOW SHOPPING MANIA

EXPLOIT
THE SOCIETY”

CAUSES OF SHOPPING MANIA

Normally there are many factors but some of them are giving below:

• Habitual
• Complex
• Parental Neglect
• Credit Card

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o Habitual
When we do something again and again it becomes habit of a person.
It can never finish but it can be overcome through the passage of time.

For Example:-
A person did not like to go market for shopping every day but
when his friends force him to go he had to go with them. As the days passed they
forces him every day and he had to go with them. After a week a person who did
not like to go he is ready to go and shop because he now like it and it becomes
habit of it.

o Complex
There are two categories first who wanted to tell the people that he
has a lot of money and second do to overcome his inferior.

 Inferiority:
when these types of people see others who spend lot of money on
shopping every day so he feel inadequacy to overcome it they start shopping to
look like them.

 Superiority:
These types of people show other peoples that they
have lot of money and they have no place left where to spend.

o Parental Neglect:

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Children who experience parental neglect often grow up with low self-
esteem because throughout much of their childhood they experienced that they are not
important as a person. As a result, they used toys to compensate their feelings of
loneliness. Adults that have depended on materials for emotional support when they were
much younger are more likely to become addicted to shopping because of the ongoing
sentiment of deprivation they endured as children. During adulthood, the purchase
instead of the toy is replaced for affection.

o Credit Card :
Credit card is also cause for shopping mania. Due to
credit card people go to shopping malls and they shop too much because they are not
paying the money from there hands and that’s why they didn’t realize that they shop too
much and buy unnecessary things.

“EXPLOITATION OF SOCIETY ”
Shopping is good for society it connects the people and brings new innovation
but excess of shopping may badly affect the society and exploit it.

 Some time peoples do the more shopping which caused deficiency of thing
and the Deserve People can not get it.

 When shopping becomes the habit of a person he spent lot of money every
day which caused Financial Problem in a family.

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 Shopping mania people also Influence other person to spent lot of money
in shopping.

 A person who has a habit to spend lot of money in shopping he tries to

hide and Lying to his Family that it was a gift from my friend.
 If a person shops every day they will bring Unnecessary Things which
was not more in used means they already have.

 Due to lot of shopping, money regulate only in one class which

differentiate the people in different class.

 The addicted person gets into a vicious circle that consists of negative
emotions like anger and stress, which lead to purchasing something.

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 REPORT: CRITICISE ON SHOPPING MANIA

“WAYS TO REDUCE”
Designing New Fabric is the way to reduce bad habit or addiction. The addict
should first of all admit that he/she has a problem of compulsive shopping. Then he has
to get rid of all checkbooks, credit cards and everything that may fuel spending. Here is
the suggestion to stop from it:-

• Start by identifying one bad habit. You head out shopping books every Saturday
morning. Next time, at a used bookstore on your way home, and find some thing
worth reading. This way you can break the routine and added some thing more
nourishing in your life.

• You head out shopping clothes every day. Next time, change your routine time and
try to busy you at that time. If you don’t then go for window shopping and buy one
day in a week.

• While having the withdrawal period never go shopping alone, because

shopoholics are likely to spend when they are by themselves.

• Find out things you really enjoy. Add more things to your new routine. Soon, you
will be cutting back on shopping Speers.

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CONCLUSION
In the end I would to conclude that Shopping is the activity of selection and/or
purchase. It includes both online and physical shopping. Often people do shopping to
fulfill their need. Shopping proves to be more of a chance for an outing rather than going
out to buy some thing they actually need but some times they though that we must buy
some thing so in this way they feel their trip was not wasted and mostly it was seen that
they are to used to of shopping that it becomes habit of them. Mania refers to addiction
which means used to of any thing. This mania is referred to as compulsive shopping or
“shopoholism”. Shopping mania refers to those people who are totally used to of
shopping and they love to shop two or three time in a day.

Shopping never exploit the society. It brings new things but excess of anything will
not effective rather than it’s a drug, smoking or shopping. As in this case, due to lot of
shopping it creates Financial Problem in the family , Influence other person to shop
more , Lying to his Family( it’s a gift from my friend),Unnecessary Things(not more in
used), differentiate the people(classes) ,negative emotions like anger and stress. There
should be many factor of shopping mania such as people suffer from complex, habitual
and parent neglect. The main key element of shopping mania is Credit card actually
when they shop they didn’t see that they buy lot of things because they are paying through
credit card if they have a cash in their hand than they can realize that they are spending
to much money on unnecessary thing. There are many ways to reduce or overcome it.
First you just realize that it’s a bad habit and you have to finish it and than change your
routine and add new thing so you can reduce it. Some people do more shopping because
they are very depressed. If you have full determination to spend less money on shopping
you can do it, in this way you will stop your problems.

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REFRENCES

 INTERNET

http://www.google.com
http://www.wikipedia.com

http://www.jurgita.com

http://www.cssforum.com.pk/
http://www.consumerworld.org/

http://www.shoppingsegment.com/

 NEWSPAPER

Taming Soft Addiction Nabeela Ahsan (THE NATION)

 BOOK
PAUL B. HORTON
CHESTER L.HUNT

SOCIOLOGY

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

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