People bemoan the way commercialization has changed traditional Christmas, but ... commercialization invented much of what we think of as traditional about the holiday. Gift-giving had been a smaller, more casual practice, and it grew up over the past two centuries in concert with department stores, catalogues and the largely invented character of Santa Claus. ... So yes, shopping defines the American Christmas, but the real point is that shopping defines America. Why would Christmas be any different? (Copeland, 2005, p. D1)

The elation many consumers at times feel in the holiday shopping experience, especially in a mall but also online, is not simply an imaginary boost of pleasure and satisfaction; those feelings have biology and chemistry at their roots. “In the relatively new field of neuro-economics, which looks at how people spend money and manage risk, scientists have found that dopamine levels appear to rise when people come across unexpected rewards” (ibid.). That there is a positive biological reaction is not surprising when shopping is viewed as “the modern version of hunting and gathering” that can therefore be “accompanied by a rush similar to the one players experience when they call ‘bingo’ or win at the slots” (Payne, 2006, p. J2). This can explain why finding the right gift can feel so rewarding. “Dopamine is also associated with drug use and other addictive behaviours [sic], of course -- something that will surprise few dedicated shoppers” (ibid.).

Consumers derive satisfaction in e-commerce in numerous ways. Figure 1 summarizes the reasons most commonly given to Majestic Researchers and revealed in its Holiday Shopping Survey for 2005 (with a sample size of 2.5 million) as the single greatest gain from shopping through the Internet.

Figure 1
Most Common Reasons for Shopping Online

(Aiken, 2005, p. 10)