What do you think about shopping nowadays? It’s obvious that most people have overdone shopping in their lives. Shop till you drop, but to your limit!
Statistics from a national social research project, showed that people between the age of 18 and 55 in this country accumulated most of their credit card related debts during November and December, comparing to any other month of the last year. The figure in the month of January was not too far behind on the blacklist, and the researchers were quick enough to come up with an explanation – most people would likely have exhausted their credit limits!
So the obvious question to follow was, naturally, where did they spend their big bucks, and what did they spend it on? Equipped with this query, I was instructed by the research team to carry out an onsite consumers’ survey at the biggest shopping complex in this area, 8 hours a day, on a daily basis, for the duration of November and December this year, in order to complement the project with factual figures and details on people’s spending.
From my point of observation, people were in their bliss. They came out of one shop and dashed into the one next-door. Each time they re-emerged from a shop, they appeared to be bringing out one or more extra shopping bags around their arms. The shoppers seemed to have already forgotten their New Year resolution about a more controlled budget, which had been prompted by their last Christmas shopping spree. Having the credit cards in their wallets or purses, as the TV advertisement promoted, were like having the whole world in their hands.
Without disclosing any specific figures, I could confirm that the most frequented places were fashion clothing shops and high-tech electronic stores. Phone company outlets that displayed flash new models of cellphones and gadgets were always popular. Shoppers were sometimes lured into the travel agencies, who displayed splendid sceneries of overseas destinations on huge plasma screens in their shop windows. After the travel agents’ patient and skillful persuasion on how much less money it would cost them to travel now because of the current favorable exchange rates and Christmas special package offers, the shoppers usually felt obliged to book for overseas trips and accommodations on the spot.
Of course, there were those shopping carried out online, which I felt compelled to mention. Nowadays, may people are too busy to shop before Christmas. Therefore, shopping online (for example, dealextreme.com) and paying by credit cards gradually became popular even among senior citizens who were initially skeptical about these modern social technologies. Without many overheads and the need to travel, online shopping saves people a considerable amount of money and time. But it could also backfire on those who became addicted.
In a word, we should make a plan on decent shopping now!
