The Shopping Shopping in ancient societies
Shopping can be traced back to many civilisations in history. In there was with that served as retailing units. are known to be used by Romans as one was discovered by dated back 75-125 written for a soldier.[1]

] The shopper
To many, shopping is considered a recreational 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 shoppers and holiday shoppers.
More recently compulsive shopping has been recognised as an Also referred as shopping addiction, "shopaholism" or formally these shoppers have an impulsive uncontrollable need to go shopping. The term " is used in a less serious context.

Shopping venues

] Shopping hubs

Window shopping in in 1937
A larger commercial can be found in many city or city . Shopping hubs, or , are collection of stores that is a grouping of several examples include

Stores
Shops are divided into multiple categories of stores which sell a selected set of goods or services. Usually they are tiered by target demographic based on the amount of the shopper. They can be tiered from cheap to pricey.
Some shops sell second-hand goods. Often the public can also sell goods to such shops. In other cases, especially in the case of a shop, the public donates goods to the shop to be sold though in the USA, in the UK. In goods can be taken for free. In antique shops, the public can find goods that are older and harder to find. Sometimes people are and borrow money from a using an item of value as College students are known to resell books back though college textbook . Old used items are often distributed though
Many shops are part of a shopping chain that carry the same (company name) and using the same same presentation, and sell the same products but in different locations. The shops may be owned by one company, or there may be a company that has franchising agreements with the shop owners often found in relation to Various types of retail stores that specialise in the selling of goods related to a theme include Other stores such as , a wider variety of products not related to each other.

Home shopping
With modern technology such as television and telephone and the Internet, users could be described as y a consumer could make purchases though , etc. Sometimes pass though the neighborhoods offering services and goods. Also, neighborhood shopping takes place though various found in . Online shopping has completely redefined the way people make their buying decisions; they have access to a lot of information about a particular product which can be looked at and evaluated, at any given time. Online shopping allows the buyer to save the time which would have been spent traveling to the store or mall.

Shopping time

Regulation
Some business have but some are open round-the-clock. Some nations regulate the operation of businesses for religious reasons and do not allow shopping on particular days or dates.

Shopping seasons
Shopping seasons are periods where a burst of spending occurs - typically near holidays in the , where s the biggest shopping spending season. Some famous target dates are and Some religions regard such spending seasons against their religion and dismiss the practice. Many question the over-commercialization and the response by stores who downplay the shopping season often cited in the Christmas controversy or .
The (NRF) also highlights the importance of back-to-school shopping for retailers which comes second behind holiday shopping where buyers often buy clothing and school supplies for their children. In 2006, Americans spend over $17 billion on their kids according to NRF survey.
Pricing and negotiation
The used by most retailers is . This involves adding a amount (or percentage) to the retailers cost. Another common technique is pricing. This simply involves charging the amount suggested by the manufacturer and usually printed on the by the manufacturer.
In Western countries, retail are often so-called or odd prices: a little less than a round number, e.g. $ 6.95. In Chinese societies, prices are generally either a round number or sometimes some lucky number. This creates .
Often prices are fixed and displayed on signs or labels. Alternatively, there can be for a variety of reasons. The retailer charges higher prices to some customers and lower prices to others. For example, a customer may have to pay more if the seller determines that he or she is willing to. The retailer may conclude this due to the customer's wealth, carelessness, lack of knowledge, or eagerness to buy.
Price discrimination can lead to a situation often called haggling, a about the price. Economists see this as determining how the transaction's total surplus will be divided into . Neither party has a clear advantage, because the threat of no sale exists, whence the surplus vanishes for both.