Shoptimizers, who are primarily influenced by things they encounter pre-shopping, such as advertising flyers and coupons
Mainstreeters, who do less pre-planning and are more influenced by things like the location of items in the store, in-store advertising, convenience, and price reputation.
Carefrees, who ignore prices and buy what they like.
One interesting finding was that it’s not the Shoptimizers who spend the least (that’s what I would have expected). It’s Carefrees, who are less affected by advertising. Spending seems to be more correlated with how often you go shopping than it is by how you shop.
I’m a Carefree, but always felt kind of guilty about not looking at the ads and coupons like my Shoptimizer mother, husband, and mother-in-law.
A Mainstreeter. I’ve been trying to focus on planning purchases and taking coupons to the store, but am likely to take advantage of in store deals, like ten products for $10 even if I didn’t plan on getting the product that’s on sale before going shopping.
I’m a Shoptimizer, but I guarantee I spend less than you. I’m dirt poor from time to time, since the divorce/bankruptcy, so I read the ads and buy in bulk and never, never, never anything I don’t need really badly.
Hm, what are they talking about shopping for? For example, in re: groceries I am a Shoptimizer. In re: shopping for clothing I am more… generally avoidant, yet also cheap (I won’t pay more just to end the torture, but I certainly don’t pay attention to sales or flyers). Kind of a of oh-god-I-hate-this-save-me-fuck-no-I-am-not-paying-that-for-a-skirt.
I’m a Carefree, though I do pre-plan before I shop. Before I walk in, I know exactly what I need and where it’s located. I might bring in a coupon because I buy pretty much the same things most of the time, but I know what I like, so I don’t bother with brands or items I don’t care for.
I don’t fit any of those profiles - I am not influenced much pre-shopping, and I’m not influenced much while shopping. I buy what we need, and I try very hard to pay the best price for it. I think my shopping profile would be a Value shopper - I’ll pay more money for some things, because they are a better value.
A person who does as much shopping online as possible, and only goes to stores for groceries and other essentials. I guess that would put me in the first category, as I can price search easier.
I generally have some idea what I’m there for, too. And more than likely, I’ll only go to the parts of the store where the stuff I know I need is. I’m not nearly organized enough to do coupons, though. If I remembered to cut them out and put them in my purse (two really big ifs there), there’s no way I’d remember them at the store and be able to find them.
Mr. Neville, on the other hand, will systematically go through every aisle, and always does the math to figure out which one is cheapest per unit. Unlike me, he doesn’t seem to care about “let’s get out of here quickly”. It drives me crazy. It’s even worse during tomato season, because he has to sniff every damn tomato in the store.
I acknowledge that his approach has its merits, though, even if it is annoying while it’s going on. We work pretty well as a team on large purchases. He does the exhaustive research, then if there is no clear front-runner from that, I make the final decision. Left to himself, he’s not so good at the “making a final decision” bit.
Eh, you probably do. I couldn’t tell you how much I spend a month on groceries, though, because I don’t keep track.
I’m not so sure that by itself would. I generally prefer to shop online for stuff other than groceries, too. But price comparison bores me online just like it does in a brick-and-mortar store, so I don’t tend to do much of it (as I said above, Mr. Neville handles this for large purchases). I go online, look for what I want, and buy it if I find it. Pretty much the same thing I do when I’m shopping in a store.
Carefree. I go and buy whatever I am wanting on that day. I may make a list of things I know I need, but that is only to be sure my house has essentials.
That’s too funny - everytime my husband goes to the store, he does the same thing. Only in my husband’s case, he’ll return with the absolute largest size of the product he can find regardless of how frequently we use it. We once spent almost a year eating the 25-pound bag of rice he bought when I mistakenly asked him to get some on the way home one night.
I’m not normally organized enough to have coupons, either. That’s usually the first thing out of my mouth at the cash register when they ask if I’ve got one. On the off chance I have a coupon, it’s usually not at the grocery and is even more pre-meditated a purchase than food.
I used to clip coupons and read circulars. I spent WAY more money on groceries and stuff back then. I’m not surprised the shoptimizers spend the most.
I’m definitely influenced by in-store promotions, especially for products where I’m not loyal to one brand. I may even stock up a little on something and/or buy it when I wasn’t planning to if it’s a really good price.
I do like shopping at Costco, largely because it takes a lot of the choice and price comparison out of the picture. If I need some tuna fish, I don’t have to consider which is on sale, and whether I like that brand enough to buy it or if I can wait another week to see if the brand I like is on sale. At Costco, they have 2 types and the price doesn’t vary from week to week. So I just grab the brand I like better and go. The price might be higher than supermarket loss-leader sales, but it’s quite a bit lower than everyday prices. (And no, I’m not assuming that it must be cheaper because it’s a club store. I’ve done price comparions on everything I buy regularly.) Also, and this may seem like a drawback to some people, but I like not having to
I also like Trader Joe’s because it takes a lot of the effort out of making buying choices. They have only one or two versions of whatever it is. If I want and/or need it, and the price is okay, I buy it. Easy peasy. Making decisions at a regular grocery store can be exponentially more difficult.
Not really any of those. I grocery/household shop for what we like, trying to keep to reasonable prices, but splurging if I feel like it. Other kinds of shopping are generally recreational. I have a mental idea of what is an acceptable price (to me) for an item, and unless I **LOVE **that item, I won’t spend more than that price. And I tend to stick to clearance racks.
I’m a Carefree who is lazy and doesn’t particularly enjoy shopping. That means I don’t go that often, which turns out to most likely be good for the amount I spend. Who knew?
I’m going to confront him about his bigamy when he gets home tonight.
And you should have seen what a hard sell it was a few years ago to convince him that it can be better to buy things like pre-washed greens, even if they cost a bit more per unit, than to avoid buying greens at all because they’re too much hassle to deal with, or buying them and having them go bad in the fridge because we’re not up to dealing with the prep most nights. Or that even if they charge you for consumables, something like a Swiffer Wet Jet is so much easier to deal with than a mop and bucket, and might be better for that reason. Fortunately, I won that battle.
I’ve even managed to convince him that there are some products for which I will accept no substitutes, no matter how much he could save if he did buy something else (My mother had an ongoing argument with my father for most of my childhood on this one). Dish detergent (Cascade Complete- I love love love not having to scrub the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher) and cat litter are two things in this category. I take it those of you with shopping styles different than mine have at least a few things in this category, too?
I am a hunter, not a gatherer. I have a definite idea of what I want and do a reasonable amount of planning before I go, especially if it’s something significant. I hate shopping. My idea of a perfect shopping trip is, for example: Need a pair of brown loafers. Find out who sells them at the best price. Go to shoe store. See brown loafers. Get size. Buy them. Go home.
It has been pointed out to me that I miss bargains by not noticing at the same time that there are also black shoes in the store that I will probably need some day. Nope. Not shopping for black shoes today.
Remember when it was fashionable to “zing” people running for public office by asking them how much a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk cost?
I’d fail that every time. I couldn’t even guess. I have no idea how much staples cost. I don’t buy extravagant items. I buy what I need, and I buy what I like.
And yet…every time I check out I play the game of “how much does this all cost?” I nail it within $5. Every time.
When I think about it, the shoptimizing on recurring purchases frees up a little cash to be carefree on discretionary purchases.
As a side note, for those of you interested in learning more about the factors influencing mainstreeters (store layout, etc.) there is a good book by Paco Underhill called Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. Underhill is a pioneer in the field of retail ethnography, which sounds complicated, but his book is quite readable and interesting if you are into psychology and/or marketing.
Shoptimizer. For groceries, I read the weekly grocery ad and always have my coupons and the stupid loyalty card. I try to stock up on things that are on sale if I"ve got the storage room.
I"m lucky when it comes to clothes. I have a casual dress code at work and in Arizona, I don’t need multiple wardrobes. I tend to buy most of my clothes during one of the usual sale times. My favorite stores all send me emails so I usually get some sort of discount. I almost always buy clothes online.
Books/movies/music, I just keep a wish list at Amazon and see if anything is on sale when I’m ready to buy something new. I’ll still check deepdiscount from time to time, but usually buy from Amazon as I find it easier to track packages there and deepdiscount’s sales aren’t as good as they used to be.
