Asian Women Shopping Experience
by M H
Ahsan
zone3
The young assistant manager thinks a while before she answers the
English teacher during a her company's weekly language training. After
careful consideration she responds: "Sleep". Then she lights up in
a smile and adds "..and shopping...".
This scenario is typical for cities across Asia. Almost considered a
cliché, women with time and cash in hand are most likely to be found at
the local mall buying shoes. Young female shoppers have become a natural
part of the industrialized world and now their counterparts in developing
countries are catching up. In Asia the shopping has emerged as a way of
life for urban women and while women in the West are still shopping, the
behavior patterns and motives differ when comparing East and West.
As the economy changes, consumers change with it. Industrialized
economies such as that of the United States are going through tough times
and they are finding their consumers shopping to relieve stress. Pam
Danziger, president of Unity Marketing says that "When men get
stressed, they go to bars, and women go shopping". The company's
research shows that American women buy for emotional satisfaction,
especially during an economic slowdown. They give themselves small gifts
and look for purchases that can symbolize "life's little luxuries". Often
the products are not satisfying a direct functional need. Also premium
priced brand names are surviving and Pam Danziger explains that consumers
want to make a statement and show what they stand for. However, these
brand names are more likely bought at Costco than at Rodeo
Drive. Costco has specialized in luxury products at minimum
prices and American consumers are thrilled to go to a warehouse style
outlet to get top quality. They can later brag about how they picked up
designer products cheaply on their way home from work.
Here lies a contrast to Asian women who are, in a sense, still
"shopping purists". They shop not for self actualization or to find a
luxury bargain, but to spend and to embrace the shopping activity as a
social event. Similar to the yuppies of the 80's, Asian women are earning
and spending, but this newly found wealth is part of a newly found freedom
as well as an economic evolution. In South East Asia more women are
joining the work force. They are becoming financially independent. In the
industrialization of many Asian countries is the grassroots of a growing
freedom for working women. Last year a press conference with Thai starlets
discussed the wonders of the TV Show "Sex And The City". This is a
quiet women's liberation - Asian style.
Here at Bangkok University, a recent study revealed that most
single women in Bangkok spend their free time shopping, but they are also
hard-working. They are also marrying later (25 is the average age for
marrying compared to 23.5 in 1990), saving up their own money, and
spending their hard-earned money wisely. According to the study by Dr.
Krairoek Pinkaeo and Anuchit Thaingtam this particular group of women go
on brand shopping sprees four times a month. In addition, Asian women also
have the opportunity to supplement their shopping with low priced items
such as toys, casual clothes, and of course pirated brand names.
Activities connected to the outing with friends or alone to the nearest
luxury mall that Western shoppers take for granted are brand new (no pun
intended) in many South East Asian countries, including China. Parking
your luxury car, strolling through the mall, and talking on the hand phone
have high value in places where such outlets have only existed for around
decade. Single Asian women either live with their parents or in a small
apartment, so showing off their wealth by sporting expensive handbags,
clothes and jewelry comes naturally. In Japan, collecting designer
handbags has become a fetish among young women, many of them still in
school and here price is a concern and bargains are sought out. Of course
as the Japanese economy continues to slump, the healing power of browsing
should not be ruled out. It seems that in the rest of Asia, newly-wealthy
women are just discovering the thrill of shopping and are approaching
routine shopping as fun rather than emotional therapy or a tragic
obsession. Shopping as a life style will continue to grow in Asia,
notably among the women from the growing middle class. There are important
subtle differences in the motives for shopping when comparing developed
and developing countries. These trends are worth following, especially if
you are a brand name manufacturer and are looking for female shoppers in
Asia with time and money.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M H Ahsan is a freelance Journalist from India.
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