San Francisco State Business School Professors Research the Sport of Shopping
In time for the holiday shopping season, the associate dean of the San Francisco State University (SFSU) Business School, in collaboration with a colleague, published an article on a phenomenon they call “sport shopping”.
Associate dean Kathy O’Donnell and Judi Strebel, chair of SFSU’s marketing department, wrote the article for the online publication The Journal of Retail and Consumer Services. It will be published in print in early 2016.
Sport shoppers, according to O’Donnell and Strebel, perceive shopping as a domain in which to achieve, much like that of an athletic pursuit. The sport shopper attempts to outsmart retailers by finding bargains, despite the fact that she (the research focused on female consumers) is able to pay full price and is typically from an upper-income background.
In a recent press release, O’Donnell said, “Even when she can easily afford to pay full price, there’s no joy in that for the sport shopper…She takes a real joy from being able to find that thing at a great discount.” Also, like an athlete, the sport shopper can recall and relate very specific details of her shopping experiences, including, at times, the date of the purchase, its retail price, and the discount at which she purchased it. Further, this type of consumer analyzes the layout of the store, like an athlete would a field or a court.
O’Donnell also remarked that, unlike the bargain shopper, the sport shopper pursues deal out of achievement of a rush, and not out of financial necessity.
About the Author
Maggie Boccella
Maggie Boccella, a lifelong resident of Philadelphia, is a freelance writer, artist and photographer. She has consulted on various film and multimedia projects, and she also serves as a juror for the city's annual LGBTQIA Film Festival.
