Consumer shopping strategies and purchasing activity: An exploratory investigation

Geographers have relied on somewhat simplistic stimulus-response models to explain shopping expenditure patterns. It is argued that this has resulted in an emphasis on the end-points of the shopping process (places of purchase), rather than on the process itself; so failing to recognise that the same end-points can be reached along a variety of paths. More attention should be given to process and hence to the strategies consumers adopt when engaging in purchasing activity. In this exploratory study, set in a North Yorkshire parish, it was found that the criteria consumers used to select amongst retail outlets were associated with particlar styles of shopping activity, which were in turn tied to particular spatial patterns of purchasing.