Compulsive buying disorder (CBD), or oniomania (from Greek ὤνιος ṓnios "for sale" and μανία manía "insanity"), is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behavior that causes adverse consequences. According to Kellett and Bolton,
compulsive buying "is experienced as an irresistible–uncontrollable
urge, resulting in excessive, expensive and time-consuming retail
activity [that is] typically prompted by negative affectivity" and
results in "gross social, personal and/or financial difficulties". Most people with CBD meet the criteria for a personality disorder. Compulsive shopping is classified by ICD-10 (F63.8) as an "impulse control disorder, not otherwise classified." Several authors consider compulsive shopping rather as a variety of dependence disorder.
History
Emil Kraepelin originally described oniomania 1924, and he and Bleuler both included the syndrome in their influential early psychiatric textbooks. However, little interest was taken in CBD until the 1990s, and, even in the 21st century, compulsive shopping can be considered a barely recognised mental illness.
Characteristics
CBD is frequently comorbid with mood, anxiety, substance abuse and eating disorders.
People who score highly on compulsive buying scales tend to understand
their feelings poorly and have low tolerance for unpleasant
psychological states such as negative moods. Onset of CBD occurs in the late teens and early twenties and is generally chronic.
Compulsive buying disorder usually mainly affected young people as
several reports put in that most interviewees reported to be in the
range of 17.5-19 years. The phenomenon of compulsive buying tends to
affect women rather than men. The aforementioned reports on this matter
indicated that the dominance of the majority group is so great that it
accounts for about more than 90% of the affected demographic..
Zadka and Olajossy, suggest the
presence of several similar tendencies between consumer type mannerism
and pathologic consumption of psychoactive elements. These tendencies
include a constant need to consume, personal dependence, and an affinity
to lack of sense of control over self-behavior.
Additionally, Zadka and Olajossy stated that one could conclude that
individuals ailing from this disorder are often in the second decade to
fourth decade of their lives and exhibit mannerisms akin to neurotic
personality and impulse control disorders.
CBD is similar to, but distinguished from, OCD hoarding and mania.
Compulsive buying is not limited to people who spend beyond their
means; it also includes people who spend an inordinate amount of time
shopping or who chronically think about buying things but never purchase
them. Promising treatments for CBD include medication such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and support groups such as Debtors Anonymous.
Research revealed that 1.8 to 8.1 percent of the general adult
population have CBD and that while the usual onset is late adolescence
or early adulthood, it is often recognized as a problem later in life.
Distinctions
Compulsive
Buying Disorder is tightly associated with excessive or poorly managed
urges related to the purchase of the items and spending of currency in
any form; digital, mobile, credit or cash.
The terms compulsive shopping, compulsive buying, and compulsive
spending are often used interchangeably, but the behaviors they
represent are in fact distinct.
One may buy without shopping, and certainly shop without buying: of
compulsive shoppers, some 30 percent described the act of buying itself
as providing a buzz, irrespective of the goods purchased.
Causes
CBD often has roots in early experience. Perfectionism,
general impulsiveness and compulsiveness, dishonesty, insecurity, and
the need to gain control have also been linked to the disorder.
From a medical
perspective, it can be concluded that impulsive control disorder is
attributed to the yearning of positive stimulus.
The normal method of operation in a healthy brain is that the frontal
cortex regulation handles the activity of rewarding. However, in
individual with behavior disorders, this particular system malfunctions.
Scientists reported compulsive buyers have significant changeable
activity in this area of the brain.
Compulsive buying seems to represent a search for self in people
whose identity is neither firmly felt nor dependable, as indicated by
the way purchases often provide social or personal identity-markers. Those with associated disorders such as anxiety, depression and poor
impulse control are particularly likely to be attempting to treat
symptoms of low self-esteem through compulsive shopping.
Others, however, object that such psychological explanations for compulsive buying do not apply to all people with CBD.
Social conditions also play an important role in CBD, the rise of
consumer culture contributing to the view of compulsive buying as a
specifically postmodern addiction, particularly with regard to internet buying platforms.
Readily available credit cards
enable casual spending beyond one's means, and some would suggest that
the compulsive buyer should lock up or destroy credit cards altogether. Online shopping
also facilitates CBD, with online auction addiction, used to escape
feelings of depression or guilt, becoming a recognizable problem.
What differentiates CBD from healthy shopping is the compulsive,
destructive and chronic nature of the buying. Where shopping can be a
positive route to self-expression, in excess it represents a dangerous
threat.
Materialism and image seeking
A social psychological
perspective suggests that compulsive buying may be seen as an
exaggerated form of a more normal search for validation through
purchasing. Also, pressures from the spread of materialist values and consumer culture over the recent decades can drive people into compulsive shopping.
In a global context where we are all encouraged to "shop till we drop"—compulsive shopping inevitably poses the further question, "Minority pathology or Mass problem?" With advertisements offering not so much products as narratives (of success, glamour) to identify with, compulsive buying may seem only an extreme aspect of what consumer culture demands from us all.
Companies have adopted aggressive neuromarketing by associating
the identification of a high social status with the purchasing of items.
They strive to bring out such an individual as a sort of folk hero for
having the ability to buy several items. As a result, according to Zadka
and Olajossy, the act of shopping is then associated with the feeling
of being of a higher social status or that of one climbing the social
ranks. Zadka holds that these companies are taking advantage the
frailties of peoples’ egos in an attempt to get them to spend their
money.
Symptoms and course
Diagnostic criteria for compulsive buying have been proposed:
1. Over-preoccupation with buying.
2. Distress or impairment as a result of the activity.
3. Compulsive buying is not limited to hypomanic or manic episodes.
4. Constant obsessing with buying as well as being dissatisfied all the time.
While initially triggered by a perhaps mild need to feel special,
the failure of compulsive shopping to actually meet such needs may lead
to a vicious cycle of escalation, with sufferers experiencing the highs and lows associated with other addictions. The 'high' of the purchasing may be followed by a sense of disappointment, and of guilt, precipitating a further cycle of impulse buying. With the now addicted person increasingly feeling negative emotions like anger and stress, they may attempt to self-medicate through further purchases, followed again by regret or depression once they return home,
leading to an urge for buying more. The aforementioned symptoms are
aggravated further by the availability of money through access to credit
cards and easy bank loans.
As debt grows, the compulsive shopping may become a more secretive act.
At the point where bought goods are hidden or destroyed, because the
person concerned feels so ashamed of their addiction, the price of the
addiction in mental, financial and emotional terms becomes even higher.
Individuals who can be considered addicted to shopping are
observed to exhibit repetitive and obsessive urges to go buy items
especially when in the vicinity of an environment that supports this
venture such as a mall. In this locations, they mostly purchase things
that are cheap and of low value mainly just to satisfy the urge to
spend. Normally, these items end up being returned to the shop they were
brought from or just disposed of entirely after a while. However,
according to Zadka and Olajossy, this rarely works as these individuals
are known to have low self-esteem.
Consequences
The
consequences of compulsive buying, which may persist long after a
spree, can be devastating, with marriages, long-term relationships, and
jobs all feeling the strain. Further problems can include ruined credit history, theft or defalcation of money defaulted loans, general financial trouble and in some cases bankruptcy or extreme debt, as well as anxiety and a sense of life spiraling out of control. The resulting stress can lead to physical health problems and ruined relationships, or even suicide.
Additionally, the ingestion of medication to combat this disorder
may lead to more problems. Further issues can come up, for instance;
one may take in substances that they are allergic to thereby leading to
unwanted developments. Also, Zadka and Olajossy state that it is quite
easy for one to develop a tolerance toward these medication which will
force the unfortunate individual to take a larger dosage which is
detrimental to their health overall. They believe that 60% of patients
who have been taking antiviral medication have experienced an occurrence
of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Treatment
Treatment
involves becoming conscious of the addiction through studying, therapy
and group work. Research done by Michel Lejoyeux and Aviv Weinstein
suggests that the best possible treatment for CBD is through cognitive
behavioral therapy. They suggest that a patient first be "evaluated for
psychiatric comorbidity, especially with depression, so that appropriate
pharmacological treatment can be instituted." Their research indicates
that patients who received cognitive behavioral therapy over 10 weeks
had reduced episodes of compulsive buying and spent less time shopping
as opposed to patients who did not receive this treatment.
Lejoyeux and Weinstein also write about pharmacological treatment
and studies that question the use of drugs on CB. They declare "few
controlled studies have assessed the effects of pharmacological
treatment on compulsive buying, and none have shown any medication to be
effective." The most effective treatment is to attend therapy and
group work in order to prevent continuation of this addiction.
Hague et al. reports that group therapy rendered the highest
results as far as treatment of compulsive buying disorder is concerned.
He states that group therapy contributed to about 72.8% in positive
change in the reduction of urges of compulsive spending. Additionally,
he notes that psychotherapy may not be the treatment of choice for all
compulsive buying disorder patients since the suitability of the
treatment method to the patient is also an important consideration. He
holds that the treatments of the disorder are required to provide a
certain reflection of the context in which this phenomenon manifests.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as fluvoxamine and citalopram may be useful in the treatment of CBD, although current evidence is mixed. Opioid antagonists such as naltrexone and nalmefene are promising potential treatments for CBD. A review concluded that evidence is limited and insufficient to support their use at present, however. Naltrexone and nalmefene have also shown effectiveness in the treatment of gambling addiction, an associated disorder.
Historical examples
Mary Todd Lincoln
was addicted to shopping, running up (and concealing) large bills on
credit, feeling manic glee at spending sprees, followed by depressive
reactions in the face of the results.
An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a regular "bricks-and-mortar"retailer or shopping center;
the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When
an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another
businesses, the process is called business-to-business
(B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to
browse the firm's range of products and services, view photos or images
of the products, along with information about the product
specifications, features and prices.
Online stores usually enable shoppers to use "search" features to
find specific models, brands or items. Online customers must have
access to the Internet and a valid method of payment in order to complete a transaction, such as a credit card, an Interac-enabled debit card, or a service such as PayPal.
For physical products (e.g., paperback books or clothes), the e-tailer
ships the products to the customer; for digital products, such as digital audio files of songs or software, the e-tailer usually sends the file to the customer over the Internet. The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.
Terminology
Alternative names for the activity are "e-tailing", a shortened form of "electronic retail"
or "e-shopping", a shortened form of "electronic shopping". An online
store may also be called an e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop,
web-shop, web-store, online store, online storefront and virtual store.
Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) describes purchasing from an online retailer's mobile device-optimized website or software application ("app"). These websites or apps are designed to enable customers to browse through a companies' products and services on tablet computers and smartphones.
History
History of online shopping
One of the earliest forms of trade conducted online was IBM's online transaction processing (OLTP) developed in the 1960s and it allowed the processing of financial transactions in real-time. The computerized ticket reservation system developed for American Airlines called Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment
(SABRE) was one of its applications. Here, computer terminals located
in different travel agencies were linked to a large IBM mainframe
computer, which processed transactions simultaneously and coordinated
them so that all travel agents had access to the same information at the
same time.
The emergence of online shopping as we know today developed with the emergence of the Internet.
Initially, this platform only functioned as an advertising tool for
companies, providing information about its products. It quickly moved on
from this simple utility to actual online shopping transaction due to
the development of interactive Web pages and secure transmissions.
Specifically, the growth of the internet as a secure shopping channel
has developed since 1994, with the first sales of Sting album 'Ten Summoner's Tales'.
Wine, chocolates, and flowers soon followed and were among the
pioneering retail categories which fueled the growth of online shopping.
Researchers found that having products that are appropriate for e-commerce was a key indicator of Internet success.
Many of these products did well as they are generic products which
shoppers did not need to touch and feel in order to buy. But also
importantly, in the early days, there were few shoppers online and they
were from a narrow segment: affluent, male, 30+. Online shopping has
come along way since these early days and -in the UK- accounts for
significant percents (depending on product category as percentages can
vary).
Growth in online shoppers
As the revenues from online sales continued to grow significantly
researchers identified different types of online shoppers, Rohm &
Swaninathan identified four categories and named them "convenience shoppers, variety seekers, balanced buyers, and store-oriented shoppers".
They focused on shopping motivations and found that the variety of
products available and the perceived convenience of the buying online
experience were significant motivating factors. This was different for
offline shoppers, who were more motivated by time saving and
recreational motives.
English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich
was a pioneer of online shopping in 1979. His system connected a
modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a
domestic telephone line. He believed that videotex,
the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven
human–computer interface, was a 'new, universally applicable,
participative communication medium — the first since the invention of
the telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to
be opened to 'outside' correspondents not just for transaction
processing but also for e-messaging and information retrieval and
dissemination, later known as e-business.
His definition of the new mass communications medium as 'participative'
[interactive, many-to-many] was fundamentally different from the
traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet
25 years later. In March 1980 he launched Redifon's Office Revolution,
which allowed consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers and
service companies to be connected on-line to the corporate systems and
allow business transactions to be completed electronically in real-time. During the 1980s he designed, manufactured, sold, installed, maintained and supported many online shopping systems, using videotex technology. These systems which also provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World Wide Web, the IBM PC, and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in the UK by large corporations.
The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, opened for commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994: online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut, Netscape's SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and Intershop's first online shopping system. The first secure retail transaction over the Web was either by NetMarket or Internet Shopping Network in 1994. Immediately after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was also introduced in 1995. Alibaba's sites Taobao and Tmall
were launched in 2003 and 2008, respectively. Retailers are
increasingly selling goods and services prior to availability through "pretail" for testing, building, and managing demand.
International statistics
Statistics show that in 2012, Asia-Pacific increased their
international sales over 30% giving them over $433 billion in revenue.
That is a $69 billion difference between the U.S. revenue of $364.66
billion. It is estimated that Asia-Pacific will increase by another 30%
in the year 2013 putting them ahead by more than one-third of all global
ecommerce sales. The largest online shopping day in the world is Singles Day, with sales just in Alibaba's sites at US$9.3 billion in 2014.
Statistics on online retail sales
Country
% Retail Sales Online
United States
9.8%
Canada
2.8%
United Kingdom
20%
Customers
Online customers must have access to the Internet and a valid method of payment
in order to complete a transaction. Generally, higher levels of
education and personal income correspond to more favorable perceptions
of shopping online. Increased exposure to technology also increases the
probability of developing favorable attitudes towards new shopping
channels.
Customer buying behaviour in digital environment
The marketing around the digital environment, customer's buying
behaviour may not be influenced and controlled by the brand and firm,
when they make a buying decision that might concern the interactions
with search engine, recommendations, online reviews and other
information. With the quickly separate of the digital devices
environment, people are more likely to use their mobile phones,
computers, tablets and other digital devices to gather information. In
other words, the digital environment has a growing effect on consumer's
mind and buying behaviour. In an online shopping environment,
interactive decision may have an influence on aid customer decision
making. Each customer is becoming more interactive, and though online
reviews customers can influence other potential buyers' behaviors.
Subsequently, risk and trust would also are two important factors
affecting people's' behavior in digital environments. Customer consider
to switch between e-channels, because they are mainly influence by the
comparison with offline shopping, involving growth of security,
financial and performance-risks In other words, a customer shopping
online that they may receive more risk than people shopping in stores.
There are three factors may influence people to do the buying decision,
firstly, people cannot examine whether the product satisfy their needs
and wants before they receive it. Secondly, customer may concern at
after-sale services. Finally, customer may afraid that they cannot fully
understand the language used in e-sales. Based on those factors
customer perceive risk may as a significantly reason influence the
online purchasing behaviour.
Online retailers has place much emphasis on customer trust
aspect, trust is another way driving customer's behaviour in digital
environment, which can depend on customer's attitude and expectation.
Indeed, the company's products design or ideas can not met customer's
expectations. Customer's purchase intension based on rational
expectations, and additionally impacts on emotional trust. Moreover,
those expectations can be also establish on the product information and
revision from others.
Product selection
Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the
retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine. Once a particular product has been found on the website of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software
to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust
quantities, like filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a
conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the
physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is
collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to sign up for a
permanent online account so that some or all of this information only
needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail
confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores
may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (although full
credit card numbers, expiry date, and Card Security Code, or bank account and routing number should not be accepted by e-mail, for reasons of security).
Payment
Online shoppers commonly use a credit card or a PayPal account in order to make payments. However, some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as:
Some online shops will not accept international credit cards. Some
require both the purchaser's billing and shipping address to be in the
same country as the online shop's base of operation. Other online shops
allow customers from any country to send gifts anywhere. The financial
part of a transaction may be processed in real time (e.g. letting the
consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or
may be done later as part of the fulfillment process.
Product delivery
Once a payment has been accepted, the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways. For physical items:
Drop shipping:
The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor, who
then ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailer's
physical location to save time, money, and space.
In-store pick-up: The customer selects a local store using a locator software and picks up the delivered product at the selected location. This is the method often used in the bricks and clicks business model.
For digital items or tickets:
Downloading/Digital distribution: The method often used for digital media products such as software, music, movies, or images.
Printing out, provision of a code for, or e-mailing of such items as admission tickets and scrip
(e.g., gift certificates and coupons). The tickets, codes, or coupons
may be redeemed at the appropriate physical or online premises and their
content reviewed to verify their eligibility (e.g., assurances that the
right of admission or use is redeemed at the correct time and place,
for the correct dollar amount, and for the correct number of uses).
Will call,
COBO (in Care Of Box Office), or "at the door" pickup: The patron picks
up pre-purchased tickets for an event, such as a play, sporting event,
or concert, either just before the event or in advance. With the onset
of the Internet and e-commerce sites, which allow customers to buy
tickets online, the popularity of this service has increased.
Shopping cart systems
Simple shopping cart systems allow the off-line administration of
products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and
graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. The systems do not use an
online database. A high-end solution can be bought or rented as a stand-alone program or as an addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the company's web server and may integrate into the existing supply chain
so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be
automated to a large extent. Other solutions allow the user to register
and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops simultaneously from one back office. Examples are BigCommerce, Shopify and FlickRocket. Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as Interchange, and off-the-shelf solutions such as Magento, osCommerce, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and Zen Cart.
Commercial systems can also be tailored so the shop does not have to be
created from scratch. By using an existing framework, software modules
for various functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and
combined.
Design
Customers are attracted to online shopping not only because of high
levels of convenience, but also because of broader selections,
competitive pricing, and greater access to information.
Business organizations seek to offer online shopping not only because
it is of much lower cost compared to bricks and mortar stores, but also
because it offers access to a worldwide market, increases customer
value, and builds sustainable capabilities.
Information load
Designers of online shops are concerned with the effects of
information load. Information load is a product of the spatial and
temporal arrangements of stimuli in the web store.
Compared with conventional retail shopping, the information environment
of virtual shopping is enhanced by providing additional product
information such as comparative products and services, as well as
various alternatives and attributes of each alternative, etc. Two major dimensions of information load are complexity and novelty.
Complexity refers to the number of different elements or features of a
site, often the result of increased information diversity. Novelty
involves the unexpected, suppressed, new, or unfamiliar aspects of the
site. The novelty dimension may keep consumers exploring a shopping
site, whereas the complexity dimension may induce impulse purchases.
Consumer needs and expectations
According to the output of a research report by Western Michigan University
published in 2005, an e-commerce website does not have to be good
looking with listing on a lot of search engines. It must build
relationships with customers to make money. The report also suggests
that a website must leave a positive impression on the customers, giving
them a reason to come back. However, resent research
has proven that sites with higher focus on efficiency, convenience, and
personalised services increased the customers motivation to make
purchases.
Dyn, an Internet performance management company conducted a survey on more than 1400 consumers across 11 countries in North America, Europe, Middle-East and Asia and the results of the survey are as follows:
Online retailers must improve the website speed
Online retailers must ease consumers fear around security
These concerns majorly affect the decisions of almost two thirds of the consumers.
The most important factors determining whether customers return to a
website are ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features. Usability testing is important for finding problems and improvements in a web site. Methods for evaluating usability include heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, and user testing. Each technique has its own characteristics and emphasizes different aspects of the user experience.
Market share
The popularity of online shopping continues to erode sales of conventional retailers. For example, Best Buy,
the largest retailer of electronics in the U.S. in August 2014 reported
its tenth consecutive quarterly dip in sales, citing an increasing
shift by consumers to online shopping. Amazon.com
has the largest market share in the United States. As of May 2018, a
survey found two-thirds of Americans had bought something from Amazon
(92% of those who had bought anything online), with 40% of online
shoppers buying something from Amazon at least once a month. The survey
found shopping began at amazon.com 44% of the time, compared to a
general search engine at 33%. It estimated 75 million Americans
subscribe to Amazon Prime and 35 million more use someone else's account.
There were 242 million people shopping online in China in 2012.
For developing countries and low-income households in developed
countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to
conventional methods is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access.
Advantages
Convenience
Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many
consumers in Western countries have Internet access both at work and at
home. Other establishments such as Internet cafes, community centers and
schools provide internet access as well. In contrast, visiting a
conventional retail store requires travel or commuting and costs such as
gas, parking, or bus tickets, and must usually take place during
business hours. Delivery was always a problem which affected the
convenience of online shopping. However to overcome this many retailers
including online retailers in Taiwan brought in a store pick up service.
This now meant that customers could purchase goods online and pick them
up at a nearby convenience store, making online shopping more
advantageous to customers.
In the event of a problem with the item (e.g., the product was not
what the consumer ordered or the product was not satisfactory),
consumers are concerned with the ease of returning an item in exchange
for the correct product or a refund. Consumers may need to contact the
retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait
for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous
return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical
stores. For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com
includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a
restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant
error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from
charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in
accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000).
A 2018 survey in the United States found 26% of online shoppers said
they never return items, and another 65% said they rarely do so.
Information and reviews
Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and
multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product
and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct
inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other
experimentation). Some online stores provide or link to supplemental
product information, such as instructions, safety procedures,
demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background
information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide
which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or
rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites
that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and even some
blogs give customers the option of shopping for cheaper purchases from
all over the world without having to depend on local retailers. In a
conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer
questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most
rely on e-mails or phone calls to handle customer questions. Even if an
online store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the customer
service team may only be available during regular business hours.
Price and selection
One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out
deals for items or services provided by many different vendors (though
some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping
engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or
service. Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of
online merchandise, though depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax
may compensate for this. Shipping a small number of items, especially
from another country, is much more expensive than making the larger
shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially
those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free
shipping on sufficiently large orders. Another major advantage for
retailers is the ability to rapidly switch suppliers and vendors without
disrupting users' shopping experience.
Disadvantages
Fraud and security concerns
Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase,
consumers are at higher risk of fraud than face-to-face transactions.
When ordering merchandise online, the item may not work properly, it may
have defects, or it might not be the same item pictured in the online
photo. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases if customers are using
stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase.
However, merchants face less risk from physical theft by using a
warehouse instead of a retail storefront. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption
has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being
intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However,
one must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit
card information subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass
the information to others. Also, hackers might break into a merchant's
web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers, although
the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is intended to minimize the impact of such breaches. Identity theft
is still a concern for consumers. A number of high-profile break-ins in
the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to
consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major
concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy
countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect
their networks. Phishing
is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are
dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been
manipulated into feeding private information to a system operated by a
malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a minor risk for
merchants, as are server and network outages.
Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has
undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the
company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the
confidence of online shoppers. However, the existence of many different
seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a
certain extent.
A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services. These include:
Sticking with well-known stores, or attempting to find
independent consumer reviews of their experiences; also ensuring that
there is comprehensive contact information on the website before using
the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry
oversight programs such as a trust mark or a trust seal.
Before buying from a new company, evaluating the website by
considering issues such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of
the site; whether or not the company lists a telephone number and/or
street address along with e-contact information; whether a fair and
reasonable refund and return policy is clearly stated; and whether there
are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping and handling
charges.
Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy
posted. For example, note if the retailer does not explicitly state
that it will not share private information with others without consent.
Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above)
when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the
credit card information entry screen will start with "HTTPS".
Using strong passwords
which do not contain personal information such as the user's name or
birthdate. Another option is a "pass phrase," which might be something
along the lines: "I shop 4 good a buy!!" These are difficult to hack,
since they do not consist of words found in a dictionary, and provides a
variety of upper, lower, and special characters. These passwords can be
site specific and may be easy to remember.
Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the
process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems
that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products,
and the accumulation of spyware.
If users are required to put in their credit card information and
billing/shipping address and the website is not secure, customer
information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it. Most
large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud
more difficult. However, criminals are constantly responding to these
developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though online
retailers are making efforts to protect consumer information, it is a
constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be aware of the
most current technology and scams to protect consumer identity and
finances. Product delivery is also a main concern of online shopping.
Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or
damaged. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for
the damage, but this is up to their discretion.
Lack of full cost disclosure
The lack of full cost disclosure may also be problematic. While it
may be easy to compare the base price of an item online, it may not be
easy to see the total cost up front. Additional fees such as shipping
are often not visible until the final step in the checkout process. The
problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where the
cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional
fees that must be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage. Some services such as the Canadian-based Wishabi attempts to include estimates of these additional cost, but nevertheless, the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern.
Privacy
Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some
consumers. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which
could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant.
In response, many merchants promise to not use consumer information for
these purposes, Many websites keep track of consumer shopping habits in
order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar
stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for a shopper's
address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to
provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on
consumers' credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a
catalog mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to
the merchant when paying in cash or through a bank (money transfer, in
which case there is also proof of payment).
Product suitability
Many successful purely virtual
companies deal with digital products, (including information storage,
retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education,
communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Other
successful marketers use drop shipping or affiliate marketing
techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without
maintaining real inventory. Some non-digital products have been more
successful than others for online stores. Profitable items often have a
high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases,
they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have
shut-ins as their typical purchasers. Items which can fit in a standard
mailbox—such as music CDs, DVDs and books—are particularly suitable for a
virtual marketer.
Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like
washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps,
also seem good candidates for selling online. Retailers often need to
order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at
consumer outlets—in such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not
compete with retail stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor
for success in this niche can consist of providing customers with exact,
reliable information about which part number their particular version
of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial
number. Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that
have a low value-to-weight ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or
touch component, products that need trial fittings—most notably
clothing—and products where colour integrity appears important.
Nonetheless, some web sites have had success delivering groceries and
clothing sold through the internet is big business in the U.S.
Aggregation
High-volume websites, such as Yahoo!,
Amazon.com, and eBay, offer hosting services for online stores to all
size retailers. These stores are presented within an integrated
navigation framework, sometimes known as virtual shopping malls or online marketplaces.
Impact of reviews on consumer behavior
One of the great benefits of online shopping is the ability to read
product reviews, written either by experts or fellow online shoppers. The Nielsen Company
conducted a survey in March 2010 and polled more than 27,000 Internet
users in 55 markets from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North
America, and South America to look at questions such as "How do
consumers shop online?", "What do they intend to buy?", "How do they use
various online shopping web pages?", and the impact of social media
and other factors that come into play when consumers are trying to
decide how to spend their money on which product or service. According
to the research,
reviews on electronics (57%) such as DVD players, cellphones, or
PlayStations, and so on, reviews on cars (45%), and reviews on software
(37%) play an important role in influencing consumers who tend to make
purchases online. Furthermore, 40% of online shoppers indicate that
they would not even buy electronics without consulting online reviews
first.
In addition to online reviews, peer recommendations on online shopping pages or social media websites play a key role for online shoppers when they are researching future purchases. 90% of all purchases made are influenced by social media.
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.
The definition of vandalism allows to distinguish hostile behavior
aimed to damage or destroy the object, instrumental behavior consisting
of damage or destruction caused to an object as a mean to achieve other
goals (appropriation of another's property, sabotage), and behavior
motivated by a desire to express oneself through the degradation of
objects as well as a play vandalism (breaking window panes).
The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term finds its roots in an Enlightenment view that the Germanic Vandals were a uniquely destructive people.
Etymology
The Vandals sacking Rome
The Vandals, an ancient Germanic people, are associated with senseless destruction as a result of their sack of Rome under King Genseric in 455. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, while the Goths
and Vandals were blamed for its destruction. The Vandals may not have
been any more destructive than other invaders of ancient times, but they
did inspire British poet John Dryden to write, Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface (1694). However, the Vandals did intentionally damage statues, which may be why their name is associated with the vandalism of art. The term Vandalisme was coined in 1794 by Henri Grégoire, bishop of Blois, to describe the destruction of artwork following the French Revolution.
The term was quickly adopted across Europe. This new use of the term
was important in colouring the perception of the Vandals from later Late
Antiquity, popularising the pre-existing idea that they were a barbaric
group with a taste for destruction.
Historically, vandalism has been justified by painter Gustave Courbet
as destruction of monuments symbolizing "war and conquest". Therefore,
it is often done as an expression of contempt, creativity, or both. Gustave Courbet's attempt, during the 1871 Paris Commune, to dismantle the Vendôme column, a symbol of the past Napoleon III authoritarian Empire, was one of the most celebrated events of vandalism. Nietzsche himself would meditate after the Commune on the "fight against culture", taking as example the intentional burning of the Tuileries Palace on 23 May 1871. "The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture" wrote Klossowski after quoting Nietzsche.
In a proposal to the International Conference for Unification of Criminal Law held in Madrid in 1933, Raphael Lemkin envisaged the creation of two new international crimes (delicta juris gentium):
the crime of barbarity, consisting in the extermination of racial,
religious, or social collectivities, and the crime of vandalism,
consisting in the destruction of cultural and artistic works of these
groups. The proposal was not accepted.
As a crime
Vandalized shooting stand in Germany
Vandalism on a street sign
Private citizens commit vandalism when they willfully damage or deface the property of others or the commons. Some vandalism may qualify as culture jamming or sniggling:
it is thought by some to be artistic in nature even though carried out
illegally or without the property owner's permission. Examples include
at least some graffiti art, billboard "liberation", and possibly crop circles. Criminal vandalism takes many forms. Graffiti on public property is common in many inner cities as part of a gang culture, where they might be used as territorial markers.
More serious forms of vandalism that may take place during public unrest such as rioting can involve the willful destruction of public and private property.
Vandalism per se is sometimes considered one of the less serious common
crimes, but it can become quite serious and distressing when committed
extensively, violently, or as an expression of hatred and intimidation.
In response, local governments have adopted various legal measures to
prevent vandalism, but research has shown that the conventional
strategies employed by the government in response to at least unapproved
graffiti are not the most effective.
Examples
Examples of vandalism include salting lawns, cutting trees without permission, egg throwing, breaking windows, arson, spraying paint on others' properties, tagging, placing glue into locks, tire slashing, keying (scratching) paint, throwing shoes on power lines
or similar structures, ransacking a property, flooding a house by
clogging a sink and leaving the water running, and pulling up plants
from the roots without permission.
Political
Armand Călinescu's memorial with the bronze plaque stolen and the name of the assassin written over.
In elections, opposing candidates' supporters may engage in
"political vandalism" — the act of defacing opponents' political
posters, bumper stickers, billboards, and other street marketing
material. Although the nature of this material is temporary, its effect
can be long-lasting as it may reflect both negatively and positively on
the candidate whose material is being vandalized as well as on the
presumed candidate whose supporters are engaging in the vandalism.
In addition, activists may use the tactic of property destruction
as means of protest, e.g. by smashing the windows of banks, shops and
government institutions and setting fire to cars. This often takes place
during riots but can also happen as a stand-alone event, e.g. by animal rights
activists destroying property owned by farmers, hunters, biotech
companies, and research facilities and setting free animals (which is
sometimes referred to as eco-terrorism by opponents). Vandalism is also a common tactic of black blocs.
Motives
Actions of this kind can be ascribed to anger or envy, or to
spontaneous, opportunistic behaviour, possibly for peer acceptance or
bravado in gang
cultures, or disgruntlement with the target (victim) person or society.
Opportunistic vandalism of this nature may also be filmed, the
mentality of which can be akin to happy slapping. The large-scale prevalence of gang graffiti
in some inner cities has almost made it acceptable to the societies
based there, so much so that it may go unnoticed, or not be removed,
possibly because it may be a fruitless endeavour, to be graffitied on
once again. Greed can motivate vandalism as can some political ideologies, wish to draw attention to problems, frustration, even playfulness. Youngsters, the most common vandals, frequently experience low status and boredom.
Vandalism enables powerless people to attack those above them, take
control and frighten others. Unpunished vandalism can provide relief
which reinforces the behaviour. Vandalism by one person can lead to imitation.
Teenage boys and men in their 20s are most likely to vandalize, but
older adults and females are also known to sometimes vandalize, with
young children occasionally vandalizing, but in a much smaller form,
such as making small crayon drawings on walls.
Criminological research into vandalism has found that it serves
many purposes for those who engage in it and stems from a variety of
motives. Sociologist Stanley Cohen describes seven different types of vandalism:
Peer pressure
– Teenagers spend more time away from home with peers whether they act
constructively or destructively can depend on the contacts they make.
Disobeying authority can appear cool.
Tactical vandalism (to advance some end other than acquiring money
or property – such as breaking a window to be arrested and get a bed for
the night in a police cell).
Ideological vandalism (carried out to further an explicit ideological cause or deliver a message).
Vindictive vandalism (for revenge).
Play vandalism (damage resulting from children's games).
Malicious vandalism (damage caused by a violent outpouring of
diffuse frustration and rage that often occurs in public settings). Cohen's original typology was improved upon by Mike Sutton whose research led him to add a seventh sub-type of vandalism – Peer Status Motivated Vandalism.
Reaction of authorities
Two billboards with the same original content, the billboard on the right being an example of subvertising — vandalizing with a political message.
In view of its incivility, punishment
for vandalism can be particularly severe in some countries. In
Singapore, for example, a person who attempts to cause or commits an act
of vandalism may be liable to imprisonment for up to 3 years and may also be punished with caning. Vandalism in the UK is construed as an environmental crime and may be punished with an ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order).
In the 1990s, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani
cracked down on "quality of life crimes", including graffiti. NY Parks
Commissioner Henry J. Stern described graffiti as "a metaphor for urban
decay perhaps best shown in 'A Clockwork Orange'" adding that "New York City will not be like that".
Cybervandalism
Cybervandalism is vandalism on the internet. For example, vandalism on Wikipedia
involves adding questionable content, removing content, or changing
content in order to make it questionable, generally with the objective
of harming Wikipedia's reputation. Forms of online vandalism have been
recorded, the most common of which is website defacement. Vandalism on web maps has been called "cartographic vandalism".
Another form of cybervandalism is the creation of malware such as viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware, which can harm computers. A particularly virulent form of cybervandalism is ransomware,
which is used to extort money from computer owners, and can even go so
far as to carry a destructive malware payload that harms the system if
payment isn't forthcoming within a certain time limit.
Defacement
People defacing the walls of the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, India
Defacement is a type of vandalism that involves damaging the
appearance or surface of something. The object of damage may be
architecture, books, paintings, sculpture, or other forms of art.
Examples of defacement include:
Marking or removing the part of an object (especially images, be
they on the page, in illustrative art or as a sculpture) designed to
hold the viewers' attention
Scoring a book cover with a blade
Splashing paint over a painting in a gallery
Smashing the nose of a sculpted bust
Damaging or chiselling off sculpted coats of arms
Altering the content of web sites and publicly editable repositories to include nonsensical or whimsical references
Iconoclasm led to the defacement of many religious artworks.
As art
A sticker reading "The HELL with SHELL" photographed in Michigan in 1973
Though vandalism in itself is illegal, it is often also an integral part of modern popular culture. French painter Gustave Courbet's attempt to disassemble the Vendôme column during the 1871 Paris Commune was probably one of the first artistic vandalist acts, celebrated at least since Dada performances during World War I. The Vendôme column was considered a symbol of the recently deposed Second Empire of Napoleon III, and dismantled as such.
After the burning of the Tuileries Palace on 23 May 1871, Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
himself meditated about the "fight against culture", wondering what
could justify culture if it were to be destroyed in such a "senseless"
manner (the arguments are: culture is justified by works of art and
scientific achievements; exploitation is necessary to those
achievements, leading to the creation of exploited people who then fight
against culture. In this case, culture cannot be legitimised by art
achievements, and Nietzsche writes: "I {also} know what it means:
fighting against culture". After quoting him, Klossowski writes: "The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture".
As destruction of monument, vandalism can only have sense in a culture respecting history, archeology - Nietzsche spoke of monumental history. As destruction of monumental history, vandalism was assured a long life (as Herostratus proved): Performance art could make such a claim, as well as Hakim Bey's poetic terrorism or Destroy 2000 Years of Culture from Atari Teenage Riot. Gustave Courbet's declaration stated:
Attendu que la colonne Vendôme est un monument dénué
de toute valeur artistique, tendant à perpétuer par son expression les
idées de guerre et de conquête qui étaient dans la dynastie impériale,
mais que réprouve le sentiment d’une nation républicaine, [le citoyen
Courbet] émet le vœu que le gouvernement de la Défense nationale veuille
bien l’autoriser à déboulonner cette colonne.
('As the Vendôme column is a monument devoid of any
artistic value, whose expression tends to perpetuate the ideas of war
and conquest from the imperial dynasty, but that reject the sentiment of
a republican nation, citizen Courbet declares that the government of
National Defense should allow him to dismantle this column.)
Hence, painter Courbet justified the dismantlement of the Vendôme
column on political grounds, downgrading its artistic value. Vandalism
poses the problem of the value of art compared to life's hardships:
Courbet thought that the political values transmitted by this work of
art neutralized its artistic value. His project was not followed;
however, on 12 April 1871, the Commune voted to dismantle the imperial
symbol, and the column was taken down on 8 May. After the assault on the
Paris Commune by Adolphe Thiers, Gustave Courbet was condemned to pay part of the expenses.
In 1974, Norman Mailer glorified the art of vandalism in his essay "The Faith of Graffiti", which likened tagging in New York City to the work of Giotto and Rauschenberg. New York Authorities responded by coating subway walls with Teflon paint, jailing taggers and requiring hardware stores to keep spray paint under lock and key.
Tags, designs, and styles of writing are commonplace on clothing, and are an influence on many of the corporate logos. Many skateparks
and similar youth-oriented venues are decorated with commissioned
graffiti-style artwork, and in many others patrons are welcome to leave
their own. There is still, however, a fine line between vandalism as an
artform, as a political statement, and as a crime. Bristol-born guerrilla artist Banksy's
claim is that official vandalism is far worse than that perpetrated by
individuals, and that he is decorating buildings of no architectural
merit.
Graphic design
Defacing could also be one of the techniques that many graphic
designers use, by applying their own hand writing on a graphic itself.
Sometimes the use of this technique might be mistaken as vandalism to
the original work, as exemplified by the work of Stefan Sagmeister, including his Lou Reed CD cover. A unique use of the defacement technique is the CD cover for A.P.C. by Jean Touitou,
where the designer wrote the title, volume number, and date with her
own hand writing on the pre-print blank CD. Creative vandalism of this
sort is not limited to writing and sketching. For example, the spraying
on the KPIST album Golden coat for MNW Records by Sweden graphic uses gold
spray, which may be considered an act of vandalism, but the customer
may also appreciate the unicity of each cover that had been sprayed gold
in different ways.
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