Window shopping
Traditionally, window shopping involves visiting a brick-and-mortar store to examine the goods on display, but it is also done online in recent times due to the availability of the internet and e-commerce.
[2] As standards of living improved in the 17th century, consumers from a broad range of social backgrounds began to purchase goods that were in excess of basic necessities.
An emergent middle class or bourgeoisie stimulated demand for luxury goods, and the act of shopping came to be seen as a pleasurable pastime or form of entertainment.
Glazed windows, which were rare in medieval times, meant that shop interiors were dark places which militated against detailed examination of the merchandise.
[5] However, the Galerie de Bois, a series of wooden shops linked to the ends of the Palais-Royal (pictured), opened in 1786 and became a central part of Parisian social life.
[11] In its heyday, the Palais-Royal was a complex of gardens, shops and entertainment venues situated on the external perimeter of the old palace grounds, under the original colonnades.
The retail outlets specialised in luxury goods such as fine jewellery, furs, paintings and furniture designed to appeal to the wealthy elite.
[11] Inspired by the success of the Palais-Royal, retailers across Europe erected grand shopping arcades and largely followed the Parisian model which included extensive use of pane glass.
– MW Marston, The Rotarian, September 1938[16]Window shopping was synonymous with being in the city and moreover offered women a legitimate reason to be able to move around in public without a chaperone.
The early department stores pioneered the transformation of traditional customers into modern consumers and of mere "merchandise" into spectacular "commodity signs" or "symbolic goods".
Shopping no longer consisted of haggling with the seller but of the ability to dream with one's eyes open, to gaze at commodities and enjoy their sensory spectacle.
[18] With the development of large out-of-town malls, especially after WWII, and more recently sales outlets in central high streets, shopping places are becoming hybrid spaces mixing goods and leisure in varied proportions.
[22] This cluster of online consumers are called "e-window shoppers", as they are predominantly driven by stimulation and are only motivated to surf the internet by visiting interesting shopping websites.
[23] These online window shoppers use news and pictures of products to seek hedonic experiences as well as keep themselves up to date with the industry status and new trends.
