NEW YORK, Nov 26 — Black Friday is approaching, but which type of shopper are you? A traditional bargain shopper, or perhaps a ‘sport shopper’, newly identified by researchers at San Francisco State University as a shopper who treats a trip to the mall like an athletic competition.

Differing from the more traditional ‘bargain shopper’, who looks for a discount out of necessity, the sport shopper can afford the product at full price, but is motivated by the thrill of grabbing a bargain.

Commenting on the research, published this month in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, lead author Kathleen O’Donnell explains, “This is somebody who takes great pride in their ability to get the thing they want at a discount. It’s not about spending the least, it’s about saving the most.”

Not only do they love the feeling of victory that finding a bargain brings, the way an athlete might enjoy the victory of winning a race, but they also prepare for the shopping event as would an athlete training for a competition. Like a runner mapping out a course, a sport shopper will map out a department store, looking at where everything is located, and planning the trip based on how much time she has available.

The sport shopper can even recall the stories behind the bargains in her wardrobe, knowing when she bought it—sometimes even the specific day, the price she paid, and crucially for her, the amount she saved.

O’Donnell refers to the sport shopper as a ‘she’ because although she is convinced male sport shoppers also exist, her research so far has only revealed females.

However the team plan to research the sport shopper further believing her, or him, to be an important profile for marketing teams to take into account in the future.

The article will be published in print early 2016, in the meantime access to the abstract can be found online.

According to the USA’s National Retail Federation‘s (NRF) latest survey, 135.8 million Americans plan to shop this Thanksgiving weekend between today and Sunday, with the largest number of shoppers, 73.5per cent, expected to shop on Black Friday.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is now considered to be the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

Many retailers offer huge discounts on their products both in-store and online, some starting as early as Thanksgiving evening, with many shoppers queuing outside stores in the hope of securing discounted products.

When looking at foot traffic in malls as counted by ShopperTrak, Black Friday is reported to be the busiest shopping day of the year. — AFP-Relaxnews