There are two basic kinds of shoppers that exist. First, there are the kinds of shoppers that only go out shopping when they need something. These are the kinds of people who have an event to go to and have already scoured their closets in search of something to wear in hopes of not having to make that trip to the store. They will pull out everything from the far reaches of their closets, almost reaching into Narnia, in desperation for something to wear. They will try on few items and quickly realize that it will not work because it is either much too small or because their children told them that their look is so outdated that they may as well just stepped out of an episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
After huffing and puffing about why they would rather just not go to said event, they will quickly come to the realization that it is time for a new outfit any way. After the amazing closet-searching adventure is over, these non-shoppers will most likely pull out the newspaper ads and start searching all of the non-shopper friendly store ads to look for a deal before ever stepping foot out of the front door. (Non-shopper friendly stores are the kind where you don’t need a special fashion vocabulary just to step in.) Once they spot a decent looking suit or dress in the local Kohls or JC Penny ad with twenty percent off coupon in the back, they unenthusiastically put on their “I-wear-them-because-they-are-comfy” jeans and their “who cares if they aren’t stylish” shoes and march out the door. Once inside the store, the immediately go to the appropriate section that they are looking for and head straight to the rack of the most familiar-looking clothes available, all without turning their head to see what else the store has to offer. Now from this point on, this particular type of shopper can be further split into two categories. Category A: Matching game shoppers. The object of the game for these kinds of shoppers is to look at the manikin and attempt to find all of the items on the store racks. This makes it much easier than trying to figure out what matches with a brown jacket or what kind of shoes go with this type of skirt. After all, if the store clerk thinks it works than why not take their opinion too?
Category B shoppers put even less effort into building their outfit than Category A shoppers. These kinds of people already have a favorite pair of shoes or a good-fitting coat at home and will search the racks at the store in order to find something that will go with the piece they already have at home. This method greatly reduces the amount of effort that needs to go into outfit-building. The method of this strategy is to rule out all of the items that definitely will not go with their pair of black heels and only consider items that will match for sure. Whether a Category A or Category B non-shopper, these types of people will hold on to the outfit they bought and continue to use it for every event for the next year and a half to avoid having to relive that experience ever again.
The opposite of a non-shopper is a hobby shopper. Everyone knows hobby shoppers. Hobby shoppers are the people that wake up on their days off with the plans to go out shopping. They generally don’t have any item in particular that they need or any particular even to be shopping for. These are the kinds of people who drive to the mall with plans of spending the day there. Hobby shoppers usually travel in packs in order to provide each other with input as they spend hours at a time in the fitting rooms trying on items that they may or may not have intentions of actually purchasing. It is sometimes observed for hobby shoppers to work at their favorite store in order to support their habit. This is not frowned upon by others of this kind because being employed at your favorite store often gives one the privilege of an employee discount. Everyone knows which of these categories they fall in to and everyone knows members of the opposite category.
Whether you may be a hobby shopper who has a subscription to every fashion magazine or a non-shopper who dreads having to take the tags off a new shirt to wash before wearing, you know just how you like to shop. Knowing the different types of shoppers is very important to those that are learning how to become a graphic designer, because they will be able to know more about their markets.