Shopping is an activity in which a customer examines or looks for the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them or casually browses such items without actual intent to purchase. "Shopping" as a word in English is a gerund derived from Old English "sċoppa," meaning "shed," "booth," "stall," or "shop." (Compare "marketing," which may refer to the activity of shopping in a physical marketplace or of presenting and promoting items for sale.)
A retailer, shop, or store is a business that presents a selection of goods and offers to trade or sell them to customers for money or other goods. Traditionally, such businesses have been in physical spaces that required shoppers to travel to those locations. Technological advances over time have also made shopping possible through mail-order catalogues, telephone purchases, and online orders, among other media.
As an economic activity, shopping may be purposeful, where a shopper looks for items to fulfill specific wants or needs. Within a typology of shopper types developed by scholars another group may be "recreational shoppers," that is, those who enjoy shopping and view it as a leisure activity.Jones, C. and Spang, R., "Sans Culottes, Sans Café, Sans Tabac: Shifting Realms of Luxury and Necessity in Eighteenth-Century France," Chapter 2 in Consumers and Luxury: Consumer Culture in Europe, 1650-1850 Berg, M. and Clifford, H., Manchester University Press, 1999; Berg, M., "New Commodities, Luxuries and Their Consumers in Nineteenth-Century England," Chapter 3 in Consumers and Luxury: Consumer Culture in Europe, 1650-1850 Berg, M. and Clifford, H., Manchester University Press, 1999 Shopping may also itself be done for hire, from part-time jobs where a shopper is paid to purchase items on behalf of a client who cannot or does not wish to go to a store, to "personal shoppers" who may also advise and consult with clients about what products to buy, to "mystery" or "secret" shoppers who pose as store customers in order to evaluate the quality and nature of a business on behalf of that store's management or a rival business.
Online shopping has become a major disruptor in the retail industryDennis, D., "Retail's Single Biggest Disruptor," Forbes, 12 June 2017; Online: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevendennis/2017/06/12/retails-single-biggest-disruptor-spoiler-alert-its-not-e-commerce/#af35a92227b6; IbisWorld, "E-commerce Disruptors," 23 February 2015; Online: https://www.ibisworld.com/media/2015/02/23/ecommercedistruptors; "Disruptor of the Year 2016: Amazon," Campaign Live, 15 December 2015, https://www.campaignlive.com/article/disruptor-year-2016-amazon/1418737; Nielsen, "What's in-Store for Online Grocery Shopping," [Report], January, 2017, Online: http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/de/docs/Nielsen%20Global%20Connected%20Commerce%20Report%20January%202017.pdf as consumers can now search for product information and place product orders across different regions. Online retailers deliver their products directly to the consumers' home, offices, or wherever they want. The B2C (business to consumer) process has made it easy for consumers to select any product online from a retailer's website and to have it delivered relatively quickly. Consumers may also compare types and prices of individual products listed at individual websites or search for such comparisons on platforms such as Amazon.com or China's Alibaba. In this way, consumers do not need to consume energy by physically visiting physical stores, thus saving time and the cost of traveling.
Shoppers' shopping experiences may vary. They are based on a variety of factors including how the customer is treated, convenience, the type of goods being purchased, and mood.
History
Antiquity
In antiquity, marketplaces and fairs were established to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. People would shop for goods at a regular market in nearby towns. However, the transient nature of stalls and stall-holders meant the consumers needed to make careful inspection of goods prior to purchase. In ancient Greece, the agora served as a marketplace where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods.Engen, Darel. "The Economy of Ancient Greece". EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples, July 31, 2004. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economy-of-ancient-greece/
Ancient Rome utilized a similar marketplace known as the forum. Rome had two forums; the Forum Romanum and Trajan's Forum. Trajan's Market at Trajan's Forum, built around 100-110CE, was a vast expanse, comprising multiple buildings with tabernae that served as retail shops, situated on four levels.Coleman, P., Shopping Environments, Elsevier, Oxford, 2006, p. 28 The Roman forum was arguably the earliest example of a permanent retail shopfront. In the Roman world, the central market primarily served the local peasantry. Those who lived on the great estates were sufficiently attractive for merchants to call directly at their farm-gates, obviating their need to attend local markets.Bintliff, J., "Going to Market in Antiquity," In Stuttgarter Kolloquium zur Historischen Geographie des Altertums, Eckart Olshausen and Holger Sonnabend (eds), Stuttgart, Franz Steiner, 2002, p. 229
Shopping lists are known to have been used by Romans. One such list was discovered near Hadrian's Wall dated back to 75–125 CE and written for a soldier.
Middle Ages
Archaeological evidence suggests that the British engaged in minimal shopping in the early Middle Ages. Instead, they provided for their basic needs through subsistence farming practices and a system of localised personal exchanges.Schofield, J. and Vince, A.G., Medieval Towns: The Archaeology of British Towns in Their European Setting,A&C Black, 2003, p.151 However, by the late Middle Ages licensed market towns served as regional hubs for the purchase of fresh produce, meat and fish, and other goods. At periodic market fairs, non-perishables and luxury goods could be also be obtained.Dye, C., Everyday Life in Medieval England, A & C Black, 2001, p.257 Women were responsible for everyday household purchases, but most of their purchasing was of a mundane nature. For the main part, shopping was seen as a chore rather than a pleasure.By Jane Whittle, Elizabeth Griffiths Consumption and Gender in the Early Seventeenth-Century Household: The World of Alice Le Strange, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp 9- 11 However, market towns and fairs also often provided entertainment and other occasions for social interaction. A few such historical venues have continued to function into the present day, but these traditions also continue in some places as "farmer's markets," while so-called Renaissance fairs maintain elements of such entertainment.
Relatively few permanent shops were to be found outside the most populous cities. Instead customers walked into the tradesman's workshops where they discussed purchasing options directly with tradesmen.Thrupp, S.L., The Merchant Class of Medieval London, 1300–1500, pp. 7–8 Itinerant vendors such as costermongers, hucksters and peddlers operated alongside markets, providing the convenience of home delivery to households, and especially to geographically isolated communities.Jones, P.T.A., "Redressing Reform Narratives: Victorian London's Street Markets and the Informal Supply Lines of Urban Modernity," The London Journal, Vol 41, No. 1, 2006, pp 64–65
In the more populous European cities, a small number of shops were beginning to emerge by the 13th century. Specialist retailers such as mercers and haberdashers were known to exist in London, while grocers sold "miscellaneous small wares as well as spices and medicines." However, these shops were primitive. As late as the 16th century, London's shops were described as little more than "rude booths."Knight, C., London, Vol. 5, 1841, Knight & Co, London, p. 132
The medieval shopper's experience was very different from that of the contemporary shopper. Store interiors were dark and shoppers had relatively few opportunities to inspect the merchandise prior to consumption. Glazed windows in retail environments were virtually unknown during the medieval period. Goods were rarely out on display; instead retailers kept the merchandise at the rear of the store and would only bring out items on request. The service counter was virtually unknown and instead, many stores had openings onto the street from which they served customers.Cox, N.C. and Dannehl, K., Perceptions of Retailing in Early Modern England, Aldershot, Hampshire, Ashgate, 2007, p. 155 The emergence of cash economies meant that shoppers would exchange physical currency for goods instead of offering items of equal value in exchange for products through bartering. Bargaining (or "haggling") between shoppers and vendors over prices, quantities, and values of goods is still common in street markets around the world and even persists in some ways in modern economies.
In Britain, medieval attitudes to retailing and shopping were negative. Retailers were no better than hucksters, because they simply resold goods, by buying cheaper and selling dearer, without adding value of national accounts. Added to this were concerns about the self-interest of retailers and some of their more unethical practices. Attitudes to spending on luxury goods also attracted criticism, since it involved importing goods which did little to stimulate national accounts, and interfered with the growth of worthy local manufacturers.Cox, N., "'Beggary of the Nation': Moral, Economic and Political Attitudes to the Retail Sector in the Early Modern Period", in: John Benson and Laura Ugolini, A Nation of Shopkeepers: Five Centuries of British Retailing, London, I.B. Taurus, 2003, pp 25-51
Shopping for pleasure The modern phenomenon of shopping for pleasure is closely linked to the emergence of a middle class in the 17th and 18th-century Europe. As standards of living improved in the 17th century, consumers from a broad range of social backgrounds began to purchase goods that were in excess of basic necessities. An emergent middle class or bourgeoisie stimulated demand for luxury goods and began to purchase a wider range of luxury goods and imported goods, including: Indian cotton and calico; silk, tea and porcelain from China, spices from India and South-East Asia and tobacco, sugar, rum and coffee from the New World.Braudel, F. and Reynold, S., The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th to 18th Century, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1992 The act of shopping came to be seen as a pleasurable pastime or form of entertainment.
By the 17th-century, produce markets gradually gave way to shops and shopping centres, which changed the consumer's shopping experience.Cox, N.C. and Dannehl, K., Perceptions of Retailing in Early Modern England, Aldershot, Hampshire, Ashgate, 2007, p,. 129 In London, the New Exchange, opened in 1609 by Robert Cecil in the Strand was one such example of a planned shopping centre. Shops started to become important as places for Londoners to meet and socialise and became popular destinations alongside the theatre. Restoration London also saw the growth of luxury buildings as advertisements for social position with speculative architects like Nicholas Barbon and Lionel Cranfield.