Christmas Shopping - Malls and Your Budget?

Beware of shopping malls this Christmas season as you do your Christmas Shopping. Malls are designed to keep consumers shopping longer and spending more money.

Professor warns against the lure of the mall during this Christmas Shopping season

Shopping malls are designed to keep consumers shopping longer and spending more money, according to Dr. Lorry Felske, professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture.

Felske, who teaches a University of Calgary course on the culture of shopping in Calgary, says that shopping mall architecture, interior decoration and layout of stores are strategically planned to entice consumers to get lost in their shopping experience and relax their spending habits.

"Research shows the longer consumers stay in a mall, the more money they will spend. So, malls have installed some of the entertaining characteristics of carnivals or Disneyland. These distractions create an environment where shoppers will forget their cares and woes so they won't feel the normal restraints about spending," says Felske.

If Christmas shoppers think they can avoid the lure of shopping centres this season by looking for gifts at outdoor malls, think again. Outdoor malls, where shoppers often drive to get from one store to another, have not abandoned this strategy.

"Outdoor malls consist of superstores and outlet stores. They are generally much bigger stores than the ones found in more traditional shopping malls. The objective of these retailers is to keep consumers inside an individual store as long as possible. The display of products is designed like a maze to deflect your interest, slow you down and make you look around."

For those Christmas shoppers hoping to stay on budget this year, Felske warns, "be wary of mall entertainment and mindful of your budget, or it may end up on your credit card January."

Beginning in January, students in the Faculty of Communication and Culture will examine the shopping culture in Calgary in a first-year seminar. Under Felske's guidance, they will research the design features of Calgary shopping centres and stores and will analyse North America's consumption-based society.