Essay On Consumerism In Retail

A Consumer’s Position in The World of Retail “It takes little effort to be a consumer. The simple act of buying a good or service is the only requirement for entering the club of consumerism, but in the free market economy the consumer is a special person” (Essock, 1978). Retail personnel seek to acquire buyers’ wants and needs in their products and hope to meet their customer’s desires, keeping their fingers crossed that they will return for more merchandise. Although those weekly, monthly, or even yearly shopping trips become second nature to customers, employees in the retail business thrive off these shopping routines, habits, and patterns. To find these patterns seems simple, but with an array of consumer characteristics the search can become complicated (“Types of

Like I mentioned before, the clothing industry is the hardest industry to create an impressionable online experience. When consumers are shopping for clothes, they want to see them in person, touch them, feel them, and try them on. Since this is clearly impossible through a computer screen, customers will order products and decide they do not like them or they do not fit, then send them back. Studies show that “Retailers lose 25% of their business in garment returns – and that for every 100 purchases, a retailer incurs around 161 shipments” (Smith, 2013). On the other side of things, consumers are suffering from low quality clothing because of fast fashion. Consumers are demanding new trends and lower prices, forcing manufacturers to create merchandise as fast as possible with cheap fabrics. This, in turn, is affecting the craftsmanship and uphold of the material as we discussed in class. “If only a small investment of time and money was made in an item 's purchase, its owner is unlikely to feel much remorse when it soon gets shoved to the back of a closet, donated to a thrift store or thrown away,” says Kelsey Dallas (Dallas,