Can't get no satifaction.

As my mind wanders I was thinking about shopping gratification. Mall shoppers thrive on the opportunity to get the satisfaction of getting products right from the source, as if the mall is a fountain of youth for shopper statifaction. People love this gratification so much, that they knowingly go out of their way to spend extra money at stores rather than purchasing it on-line. WHY!? I’ll get to that, but the entrepreneur in me starts to think about linking the Internet with a Star Trek like replicator. As always, Japanese technology seems to have a finger on the pulse of great ideas.

This product allows you to place a product where you would in your house, or stand in front of a mirror and see how that new out fit would look. but to get back to the point of satisfaction, would this revolutionary, not yet available, product even really help?

What makes shopping so satisfying? Lets take a step back and see why we buy new things to begin with. There are plenty of studies about how people shop almost as an addiction (keeping up with the Joneses, conspicuous consumption, and Affluenza). You get depressed, you get some new shoes. Life can feel cluttered confusing and overbearing and making a purchase washes it all away. Is it that buying items that reflect who we are within a community keeps us connected to our social groups? Fashion seems to be an ever updating job, in which, keeping up says just as much as what you are wearing. When we refresh this connection to others with new apparel, we can feel the support of whom we associate with. If you pick up some new clothes, people say “nice shirt, where did you get that?” Even if they don’t say anything people pick up on new pleats or the luster of new clothe. Sure getting recognized feels good, but there are a million different things we could do that reward you with similar recognition. What about this connection to our peers gives us relief from our crazy lives? Maybe it’s just that. We work at jobs that push us around and deal with people that can be frustrating. But making a purchase is a freedom; we pick the colors, styles and images. People might even get crazy and make creative choices. I’m sure there are droves of women out there that would agree when I say, sopping is an art. New fads blossom out of innovators in fashion and cultivators of style. I’d say this makes a pretty big statement about the democracy of expression in capitalism.