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You've posted interesting comments about the pros and cons of catalog shopping. Some people think it’s more enjoyable to flip through a catalog, with its colorful images, than to browse a retailer’s Web site.

Have you ever thought about how you shop? I ran across a survey by a women’s marketing communications firm in North Carolina, Frank About Women, which discusses whether fewer people are shopping for pleasure in this economically challenging time. From 2005 to 2008, the number of mission shoppers has doubled, while social shopping has decreased.

If you’re a mission shopper, you like to get in and out of a store quickly, shopping with a checklist and making practical spending decisions, according to this group. Social shoppers like to shop with friends or family, and for them, shopping is an experience.

So, what kind of shopper are you and have your shopping patterns changed?

Here are some other shopper classifications, according to Frank About Women:
Anti-shoppers—View shopping as a necessary evil and only shop for necessities or replenishment.
Zealot shoppers—Love all kinds of shopping, from trips to the grocery store to the mall.
Feel-good shoppers—Like to shop alone and browse uninterrupted. Shopping is a means of escape and a stress reliever.

I fall into several of these shopping types. While grocery shopping, I tend to be a mission shopper. While at the mall on my own time, I'm a feel-good shopper, but on weekends or out-of-town trips with family or friends, I fall in the social shopper category.