Shop Till You Drop

1. Introduction

Nowadays we live in a society full of temptations which create addiction (people are addicted to alcohol, computer or shopping). In recent years addictive to shopping has become a real problem especially among the stars who came to spend huge amounts of money for clothes.

Shopping was seen as a pleasant way to spend your free time, to buy new things that you need, but in today's increasingly more people, especially women get to make a real sport from shopping , better said, a real passion. And not some hobby, but one which destroyed both soul and psyche, and wallets.

According to psychologists there are different types of addictions people are inclined for. Those addictions are different according to nature of desire that develops to addiction soon. The shopping addiction is addiction of her-and-no kind. People feel unsatisfied with their lives deep inside, and they are looking for something that will make them happier than they are now.

And with buying stuff people replace the feeling of lack of love, changes, experience, emotions and so on and so forth. It is necessary for shopaholics to ask for help of skillful psychologist if they want to get rid of this addiction. According to conducted researches, those who suffer from shopping addiction are people who want more from this life but can't get it.

In U.K . Manchester women are biggest shopping spenders. Researchers discovered women in the city – home to big-spending footballers' wives including Coleen Rooney and Gemma Atkinson – fork out more than £1,738 on shopping sprees each year.

Three-quarters of women from the city also say they feel happier after a good trip to the shops, and just over half say they see it as a form of therapy.

Women from Swansea came second in the poll with an annual spend of £1,653, followed by residents of Cambridge, Birmingham and London.

But women in Wolverhampton have more control over their shopping spends – parting with just £1,121 each year. Sheffield, Leicester, Newcastle and Brighton also have the fewest number of shopaholics.

A spokesman for shopping website MadBid, which carried out the poll, said: "Most women enjoy a little spot of shopping but these results show that those in Manchester spend that little bit extra."

The poll of 3,000 women revealed that 43 per cent admit to being a shopaholic, while 81 per cent say they enjoy a good shopping spree.

It doesn't come cheap though as the average woman will spend £64.99 on each trip, and goes on ten shopping sprees each year. That's a total of almost £650 each year.

On top of that, another £60.67 is spent online each month – adding up to more than £728 over the internet every year.

But shopaholics are turning to the internet more than ever to get their spending fix with just over a third saying they now do most of their shopping online.

Top ten most shopaholic cities 1. Manchester – £1,738.36 2. Swansea – £1,653.24 3. Cambridge – £1,629.96 4. Birmingham – £1,526.96 5. London – £1,425.54 6. Edinburgh – £1,418.34 7. Aberdeen – £1,379.97 8. Liverpool – £1,357.90 9. Plymouth – £1,355.34 10. Portsmouth – £1,353.16

Top ten least shopaholic cities 1. Wolverhampton – £1,121.34 2. Sheffield – £1,157.60 3. Leicester – £1,182.46 4. Newcastle – £1,209.92 5. Brighton and Hove – £1,226.16 6. Leeds – £1,231.54 7. Coventry – £1,245.03 8. Southampton – £1,263.66 9. Cardiff – £1,309.83 10. Bristol

Because shopping addiction has become a problem so big that tends to affect both the stars life and normal people life, we tried to understand and explain this phenomenon, which every day attracts more people.

2. Shopping: a dream come true or a terrible nightmare?

Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with the intent to purchase at that time. Is an activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one.

To many, shopping is considered a recreational and diversional activity in which one visits a variety of stores in search of a suitable product to purchase. "Window shopping" is an activity that shoppers engage in by browsing shops with no intent to purchase, possibly just to pass the time between other activities, or to plan a later purchase.

To some, shopping is a task of inconvenience and vexation. Shoppers sometimes go though great lengths to wait in long lines to buy popular products as typically observed with early adopter shoppers and holiday shoppers.

But there also are some people who are addicted to shopping and if you are a person who enjoys shopping, be careful. Try to control yourself. The power of the mind is great, and if you make a few efforts, you will be able to avoid this addiction. Next time you go shopping, stop a second and think about it. Examine your shopping habits. Later might be too late.

Shopping can be a drag for some and fun for others but for someone who is addicted to shopping it is neither. The compulsive shopper experiences all the general symptoms associated with addiction. Over the years, shopping has become a very common activity. Many people enjoy going to malls or stores more and more everyday(fig.1), but it's more than a common hobby for some of them. They have turned into shopaholics. They are people who simply enjoy shopping and walking around spending money without being able to stop doing it.

Shopaholics, also called compulsive spenders, are people like any addicted people who are hooked on something. They are hooked on shopping. They really like shopping and usually buy things that they don't need. Even though they don't have enough money, they buy everything they want. The question is: why do they have this addiction? There isn't a specific answer. Some people go shopping when they are sad, worried, upset or lonely and they want to feel better. They use this activity as a way to forget their problems. Shopholics say that they feel more important and better after they buy something.

They also tend to have this addiction when they feel guilty. For example, a husband might buy very expensive presents for his family to try to make up for his lack of love for them.