Shopping habits depend more on your age group than anything else. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Why age defines the approach towards shopping?
A conventional belief that age is the driving factor that makes people embrace distinct shopping attitudes: young people go for fashionable clothes, new gadgets, while the people in middle-aged and old-aged group and tend to focus on the needs of their families and budgets
The shopping forays of youngsters are fueled by peers, public icons and are frequent, whereas that of older people is need-driven and occasional
What other factors are more relevant
The wealth: there is a clear demarcation between the affluent - passion driven or a hobby, the middle income and low-income groups a means to fulfill the requirements, and the impoverished - an endeavor to fulfill basic needs.
Availability of resources and circumstances is also influencing buying practices
The attitude of being a spendthrift, or prudent spender it is rather an innate skill
In contemporary times, people are adopting buying patterns that are in vogue
With the technology developing and companies releasing upgrades regularly, people are embracing consumerist attitudes - use and throw, regardless of their age and economic background.
Conventional and dynamic attitudes
Gender dependent - women shop more than their male counterparts
The debate around factors that define shopping patterns is the most heated. While some think that the age of shoppers is the influencing factor, others think differently.
A large lobby of people believes that shopping has become a critical part of the society which totally depends on the age of shoppers, while some suggest that there are other factors underlying this propensity.
To begin with, a school of thought propounds that age plays a crucial role in the shopping approach of individuals. For instance, young people are more inclined to purchase brand new products to keep up-to-date in the fashionable era and flaunt their possessions among their peers, while the people in their middle age and golden years try to buy something that aids them in fulfilling their basic necessities. Also, the shopping list of youngsters are more influenced by well-known celebrities, seniors and neighbors, which include modern clothes and latest gadgets. However, this is not the case with the older shoppers as they shop for medicines, food items and home equipment.
Having said that, some commentators believe that wealth plays a pivotal role in ascertaining shopping tendencies. The affluent buy what they like, but those with average incomes always go for the things that are high on priority; similarly, the underprivileged section shops to fulfill their basic needs. Moreover, buying attitudes are also sometimes influenced by genders as women shop more as compared to the men. Additionally, advertisements, especially ones featuring celebrities, are also an essential attribute that many times propels audiences into a buying spree. Adding to this, businesses keep releasing new versions of equipment such as mobiles, creating an inclination to use and throw and one repeatedly shops them, despite not having enough money to buy.
Overall, I fail to concur with this notion partially that shopping depends on the age alone, but also directly, or indirectly pivots on the amount of money, time and need to buy something.