In comes a new ''people-friendly'' tack, with academics trying to understand consumers as individuals. Helen Woodruffe, lecturer in consumer behavior at Britain's Lancaster University, spends her time interviewing ''real'' women about their shopping habits. I still do comfort shop. I don't need them. Buying can be more fun than owning.
Shopping is also social.
The spate of modern retailers opening coffee bars or restaurants within their stores is a reaffirmation of a century-old phenomenon. It's like the difference between enjoying the occasional chocolate bar and binge eating,'' Woodruffe notes. Shopaholics need help and counseling, although even here academics are revising their opinions. Self-help groups established on both sides of the Atlantic in the '80s tended to see the lure of the designer fashion store as an evil, urging members to cut up their credit cards. The modern view is that shopping addiction is symptomatic of deeper problems.