ACADEMIC PAPERS Thrift shopping: Combining ...

ACADEMIC PAPERS Thrift shopping: Combining utilitarian thrift and hedonic treat benefits Received in revised form.

Fleura Bardhi is an assistant professor in the n:\arketing group at the College of Business Adnninistration, Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Her research interests fall in three domains: identity processes during life transitions, consumer relationships and consumer experiences. She has conducted research in the areas of commercial betrayal, thrift shopping and anchoring of identity in life transitions.

Eric J. Amould is E. J. Faulkner College Professor of Agribusiness & Marketing and CBA Agribusiness Program Interim Director at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA. His recent research investigates consumer rituals, household consumption behaviour, postmodern motivation, magical consumption, service relationships. West African marketing channels and the uses of qualitative data. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.

Abstract Keywords: Thrift, etcinomic shopping, hedonic shopping, thrift shopping, ethnography

Through an ethnography of shopping that takes place in five thrift stores in a US mldwestern town, the authors examine the role of thrift in a shopping process that is both economic and hedonic—'thrift shopping'. Taking a dialectical perspective on the study of shopping (Sherry, 1990), Miller's (1998) findings on the roie of thrift are extended by showing that in the thrift shopping context thrift coexists with treat, and the pursuit of thrift can itself become a hedonic experience. In addition, the authors identify six ways in which consumers practise thrift in thrift shopping and the hedonic benefits that they derive from this money-saving actiinty. The findings challenge the traditional frugality perspective of dichotomising thrift and hedonic desire being opposite and contradictory orientations. Copyright ((j 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION Fleura Bardhi Northeastern University, College of Btjsiness Administration, 202 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA Te/.-+(617) 373 2812 fax;-(-(517) 373 8366 e-mail: f.bardhi© neu.edu

In the Theory of Shopping, Miller (1998) identifies two values that consumers derive from everyday shopping: being thrifty (and, as a result, being moral) and expressing devotional love to significant others. This paper focuses on the first value identified by Miller (1998), namely thrift, and examines its role in the shopping process. One of the criticisms of Miller's (1998) shopping theory has been

its failure to incorporate the marketing literature on shopping into this work (Arnould, 2000; Woodruffe-Burton et al., 2002). In this paper, one of these failures is addressed, namely Miller's dichotomous perspective of shopping orientations and the concept of thrift, by incorporating one marketing perspective of shopping as dialectical (Ealk and Campbell, 1997; Sherry, 1990). While Miller adopted a dichotomous

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Fleura Bardhi and Eric J. Arnould

perspective of shopping being either provisioning or hedonic, the dialectical perspective in marketing argues that both provisional and hedonic orientations exist in a shopping process (Sherry, 1990). Taking this dialectical perspective of shopping, this paper challenges Miller's proposition that thrift and treat exist in opposition to each other. The authors identify a provisional shopping context where both the economic and hedonic orientations exist and examine the role of thrift in coexistence with treat. Eurthermore, they identify and describe the ways in which 'thrift' and 'treat' are practised in a shopping process that is both economic and hedonic. In the Theory of Shopping, Miller (1998) identifies two distinct types of shopping: provisioning and hedonic. Provisioning shopping is everyday shopping that is conducted out of necessity, mainly according to a utilitarian normative model. Miller (1998) points out that in much provisioning shopping individual desires are suppressed. Miller identifies economic shopping as the domain of thrift. Thus, provisioning shopping is similar to a conception of economic shopping introduced in marketing (see Sherry, 1990). To remain consistent with marketing terminology and avoid any confusion that the term 'provisioning' might provoke, the authors use the term 'economic shopping' to refer to Miller's provisioning shopping. Hedonic shopping is close to Sherry's (1990) notion of festive shopping elaborated in recent works (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003; Penaloza, 2001; Kozinets et al., 2002) in that it includes shopping processes for which the goals are hedonic and experiential. Hedonic shopping is directed towards the satisfaction of particular individual desires, and is regarded as an extravagance that lies outside the constraints of necessity. Miller (1998) represents hedonic shopping as the realm of treat and as a 'hedonistic act of materialistic selfindulgence' (1998: 48). Here, treat

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becomes the apotheosis and not the exceptional outcome, as would be the case in economic shopping. Miller makes a dear division in his work between these two types of shopping. Economic shopping is the realm of thrift and morality, and hedonic shopping is the realm of treat and experiential consumption. Eocusing only on the study of economic shopping. Miller (1998) contributes to the existing marketing knowledge by pointing out the essential role that thrift plays in shopping behaviour. In marketing, thrift is studied from an economic perspective, that is, in terms of budgets, transaction costs, savings, careful spending and management of money (Blattberg et al., 1978; Lastovicka et al, 1999). Thrift is defined in terms of short-term sacrifices in current consumption for reaching long-term substantial goals in the future. Miller (1998) makes an additional point and shows that, in consumer culture, thrift makes shopping a moral act. This helps to explain the attraction of economic shopping to ordinary consumers, Using the metaphor of sacrifice, and building a comparative ethnological argument, he shows that, in the context of provisioning shopping, thrift acts as a sacrificial rite. A sacrifice of primarily female labour transforms shopping into the negation of expenditure, focusing instead on the goal of saving, or thrift. In addition. Miller (1998) challenges the existing notions of thrift, implicitly including its marketing conceptualisation, by arguing that thrift is an autotelic activity, and not a means to other ends. Miller's argument in the Theory of Shopping, however, is consistent with the existing marketing perspective of thrift because it considers thrift as oppositional to treat or hedonic consumption. In this paper, the authors define shopping through the dialectical relationships between its economic and festive functions (Sherry, 1990). It is argued that, in a context of economic

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shopping, consumers may carry out both economic and festive activities. As a result, thrift and treat can coexist, they are dialectically defined categories that enable consumers to negotiate and realise a diversity of moral and experiential experiences. The authors identify thrift shopping as one such dialectical shopping context. Thrift shopping is economic shopping in that it is an everyday activity conducted out of economic necessity. Moreover, achieving thriftiness becomes a key consumer goal (Miller, 1998). This paper will show, however, that thrift shopping is also hedonic shopping, where consumers thrift shop as a way of indulging their fantasies (Bardhi, 2002). There is some precedent for this perspective in marketing, as studies of smart shoppers and coupon users have shown that shopping for bargains can be a fun and exhilarating activity (Mano and Elliott, 1997; Price et at., 1988; Schindler, 1989); however, the potential existence of a thrift-treat dialectic has not been examined in the shopping context. In this paper, thrift shopping is shopping in second-hand settings, such as thrift or second-hand shops, estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, auctions etc, which are the domain of commercially-mediated lateral recycling. This study focuses on second-hand shopping in thrift stores

which have been categorised traditionally as having an economic function (Bardhi, 2002; Miller, 1998; Miller et ai., 1998; Sherry, 1990). The first goal of this study is to examine the ways in which consumers practise thrift in thrift shopping. The second goal is to identify the 'treat' aspects in this provisioning type of shopping. Building on Miller's (1998) conceptualisation of thrift as the ritual of transformation, the third goal of this study is to examine the role of thrift in consumers' hedonic pursuits in thrift shopping. The study domain is represented in Figure 1, where it is shown that thrift shopping has a dialectical nature and is a domain both of thrift and treat. METHODOLOGY

The methodological approach followed in this study was market-oriented ethnography (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994). Marketing researchers have employed ethnography to investigate consumer experiences and meanings within retail contexts which are similar to thrift shops, such as flea markets (Sherry, 1990), thrift shops {UiWeretal, 1998) and swap markets (Belk et al., 1989), and it is a popular technique in the study of other servicescapes (Arnould and Price, 1993; Kozinets et al., 2002). In the present study, the choice of ethnographic

Econotnic shopping (thrift) Thrift shopping

Hedonic shopping (treat)

Figure 1: Domain of study: Thrift shopping

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methods led to observation of the shopping practices of thrift and treat in a natural setting (eg during thrift shopping) and to an assessment of the utilitarian and hedonic meanings of thrift shopping. From the analysis of these emic perspectives, the researchers reached an understanding of the role and significance that thrift and treat have in the thrift shopping process. The research was conducted during a one-year span in five different thrift stores in a US midwestern town. These settings were the thrift shops most frequently visited by participants in the study. The first author gained access to the setting and other informants through a key informant, Silvia. Silvia identified herself as a thrift shopper and thrift shopped regularly at least twice a week. The first author went shopping with this key informant for a month, aiming to immerse herself in the field, to learn the 'tricks' of thrift shopping and to build rapport. Eventually, Silvia introduced the researcher to two other thrift shoppers. The other participants in this study were identified through a snowbalUng technique which targeted representative thrift shoppers (Spradley, 1979); they shopped regularly at thrift stores and identified with this shopping process. Overall, the sample consisted of 12 thrift shoppers, 11 of whom were female. In general, respondents possessed a college degree and were married with kids. The age of the respondents ranged from 19 to 60 years. Two traditional techniques of ethnographic data collection were used: participant observation and ethnographic interviews (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994; Sherry, 1990; Spradley, 1979). The first author observed shoppers while accompanying them into the stores and sometimes participating in the shopping process with them. The focus of the observation was to provide a detailed description of the thrift store retail setting and the process of thrift shopping. Participant observation helped to identify and provide a 226

perspective in action of the thrift and treat practices naturally occurring in this shopping context (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994). Ethnographic interviews (McCracken, 1988; Spradley, 1979) were used as a second method of data collection to get to the emic perspective of the thrift shopping behaviour and practices through people's value-laden stories ar\d accounts of their own and others' behaviour (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994: 490). In this way, the verbal data supplemented the observational data by providing the thrift shoppers' perspective on the interpretation of thrift shopping actions and practices observed. Ethnographic interviews lasted an average of 1.45 hours and focused on each informant's motivations for thrift shopping, patterns of thrift shopping, benefits of thrift shopping and experiences of thrift shopping. Half of the interviews were conducted while thrift shopping with the informant, while the other half were conducted at the informant's home. The data employed in the analysis consisted of interview transcriptions and field notes. Field notes and interview transcriptions were read first to develop a sense of the data as a whole and acquire familiarity with respondents' narratives. Then the data were dissected, reduced, sorted and reconstituted through open coding (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) with the aim of identifying common themes across informant shopping practices and the meanings of thrift and treat in this shopping context (Spiggle, 1994). FINDINGS

This study attempts to extend Miller's (1998) findings on the concept of thrift by studying it in the context of thrift shopping. The respondents identified two key factors that motivated them to thrift shop: thriftiness and fun. The findings of the study have been organised to answer each of the three research goals. First, the ways in which thrift is practised by thrift shoppers were

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identified and presented. Secondly, the authors identified the hedonic values that consutners derive while thrift shopping. Thirdly, the authors identified the role that thrift plays in coexistence with treat. Practices of being thrifty in thrift shopping

The authors first identified the ways in which thrift shoppers behave in a thrifty manner in the context of thrift shopping. Thrift is defined here in the traditional sense accepted in marketing, that is, thrift is conceptualised as a careful management of resources—

careful consumption and saving in the present in order to consume better in the future (Blattberg el al., 1978; Lastovicka et al, 1999; Lichtenstein et al, 1993). In their data, the authors identified six different ways in which consumers practise thriftiness while thrift shopping, varying from careful preplanning and pre-shopping, to restrictions on first-hand shopping, bargain hunting and recycling (see Table 1). Detailed descriptions of the techniques involved have been provided for the three most common practices, while a brief overview of the other practices is given in Table 1.

Table 1 Practices of being thrifty Thrifty practices

Description

Example

1, Preplanning and pre-shopping

Consumers carefully preplan 'We pre-shop on Sunday for what's going to be and pre-shop for specific items on sale Monday for a dollar. And we hide it. throughout the year. And then on Monday morning I go over early and go to our little secret hiding places and get our stuff out and, and buy it.' (Silvia, 54 years old)

2. Minimise firsthand sbopping

Consumers restrict shopping in first-hand stores to only those items that could not be found in thrift stores.

R;',,. and bras. I wish I could buy them there.' I:' Why don't you buy them in thrift shops ?' R: 7 wear a very strange size bra and there's only one company that makes it. And my bras are 89 dollars a piece.' (Blaire, 50 years old)

3. Bargain hunting

Consumers thrift shop for bargains.

'Usually I'll just spend 20 dollars [in a thrift shopping trip}. I used to come home let's say from Savers and take off their original tag and then know what I spent and add up their original tags. And I might say welt today I got you know 87 dollars normal price. Savers thrift-shop-price for 17 dollars. Let atone what those items cost new.' (Lilly, 56 years old)

4. Restrict spending resources when sbopping

Consumers thrift shop W\\h restricted amounts of cash, do not carry credit cards and rarely carry cheques or debit cards.

'Like usually what i do is I only take 20 bucks. So, every Thursday and every Friday I'll go thrift shopping and... I'll spend 40 dotlars a week.' (Page, 40 years old)

5. Recycle

Consumers recycle personal and thrift store items within family circles and thrift stores.

'.. .my friend Mel and t switch ctothes. And whatever we don't take from each other, my niece works for the Friendship Home for battered women. And so we just bag up and Betty picks up and takes to the Friendship Home. And that's the other thing, if you buy something fora dollar and you get home and you don't like it, you don't feel like you've spent a billion dotlars on it and can't get rid of it. tt goes to Met or the Friendship Home, so it goes to a good cause.' (Blaire, 50 years old)

6, Extend domestic pic

Consumers thrift shop for broken or missing parts of old products in domestic use.

7 took down my sconces that were up on the wait. I'd had them for 25 years. And I'd broken a globe to them. I was in Omaha at a thrift store once and found a globe that matched it.' (Silvia, 54 years old)

Note: Ranking of thrifty practices follows tbe sequence of actions in a thrift shopping trip.

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Fleura Bardbi and Eric J. Arnould

Practice 1: Careful planning and pre-shopping

Thrift shoppers practise thrift in the ways that they approach thrift shopping. In line with previous studies of secondhand retail shopping (eg flea markets by Sherry, 1990), thrift shoppers do not go thrift shopping with a particular purpose in mind. Instead, these thrift shoppers have broad and general ideas as to what they are going to shop for. There is also little seasonal shopping that occurs at thrift stores; however, that does not mean that thrift shopping is simply impulse shopping. As the quote below illustrates, before purchase, thrift shoppers engage in a considerable level of continuous planning and pre-shopping. Consistent with previous studies on thrifty consumers (Blattberg et al., 1978; Lastovicka et al., 1999; Mano and Elliott, 1997; Schindler, 1989), the informants emerged as careful consumers who plan, search and organise thrift purchases for themselves, their family and friends throughout the year. 'The theory of thrift shopping is if it's July and you see a winter coat that you like, you buy it. Because you buy whatever you see at the time that it's there. My theory in life is to be prepared, so that I don't have to ... If 1 see a nice dress, 1 buy it. Because when I have something to go to, I doij't ivant to be looking for something, because theit you don't find 'em. That's when you end up at the [first-hand] store for 300 bucks. So my theory is to buy whenever you see it and never have a part of your wardrobe that's vacant' (Blaire, 50 years old).

Because of their social roles as homemakers (Miller, 1998) (all respondents in the study claimed to take the role of household manager in their families) and their social or altruistic orientation (Feick and Price, 1987; Price et ai, 1988) (this idea is adopted from the market tnaven literature because, similar to market mavens, thrift shoppers consider it a duty to help others in the context of consumption), thrift shoppers have a good idea of the preferences and needs of household members, immediate and extended family and friends. During 228

each thrift shopping trip, thrift shoppers screen and search extensively (Bardhi,, 2002; Sherry, 1990) for items that someone in their social network may need. Purchase follows, especially when items are on a special deal. For example, most of the shoppers had a good idea of the collections of their friends or family members. They regularly looked for that rare missing piece of a collection, and then purchased it immediately as the circumstance arose. Addifionally,. these shoppers have developed a mental calendar of household celebrations and events and the different consumption needs that arise as a consequence. As a result, they preplan and shop for these needs throughout the year. Their rationale, as they describe it, is that by shopping throughout the year and buying things when available, they make overall savings. For example, Lilly, a local business owner, illustrates the belief among these shoppers not only that thrift shopping produces long-term savings, but also that it allows them to express devotional love (Miller, 1998). 'My best friend lives in New York. I'll pick up things be it for her or her sons or her daughterin-law or her grandkids. Sometimes, 1 UPS the stuff to her in big boxes. I know it kind of defeats the purpose a little since you end up paying 1012 dollars for the shipping, but again, it's still probably very cost-effective in the long run. And 1 go up there about twice a year, so often I'll just drive up instead of flying and jttst load up the ear, especially if they're breakable'

(Lilly, 56 years old). These data show that thrift shoppers are similar to frugal consumers in that they plan and shop carefully throughout the year in order to realise future savings, but there is a key difference. Lastovicka et al. (1999) show that frugal consumers understand being thrifty in terms of the sacrifice of present consumption for savings and a better future and view consumption and shopping negatively, as behaviour to avoid. In contrast, thrift shoppers in this study understood and practised thrift in coexistence with

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spending (shopping). These consuniers were thrifty through careful thrift shopping, but did not sacrifice the pleasures of present shopping for the future. Practice 3: Bargain hunting Bargain hunting is a pervasive thrifty practice in thrift shopping. The authors deem bargain hunting to be consumer tactics that focus on saving money during thrift shopping. As one of the respondents put it, one of the main reasons to go thrift shopping is that 'sometimes it is necessary to stretch your income and thrift shopping allows me to have a life' (Kristi, 36 years old). Thriftiness enables thrift shoppers truly to live. In this study, the authors identified four money-saving tactics that their consumers used. First, thrift shoppers conceived thrift shopping to be a money-saving alternative to first-hand shopping. Secondly, field notes and verbal data reported below show that thrift shoppers purchased items primarily when they were on a special deal. Shoppers identified themselves as experts in thrift shopping and accumulated an exact knowledge of the promotions in each thrift store. For example, two of the most 'famous' promotions mentioned by respondents were Savers' 99 cents items on Mondays (as illustrated in the first example that follows) and Goodwill's annual one dollar for each item in the store. As a result, thrift shopping was planned around the schedule of sales promotions. Respondents further focused their shopping primarily on items that were on sale.

A third money-saving tactic that thrift shoppers in this study used was to shop for clearance items out of season when they were priced lower than when in season. Fourthly, these thrift shoppers usually shopped for defective items typically priced lower than if they were not defective. Acceptable merchandise had defects that the shoppers could mend themselves or use as the raw material for some consumer project with which they were involved. Practice 5: Recycle Another thrifty practice conducted by thrift shoppers in this study was recycling. All shoppers in the study engaged in some sort of recycling behaviour in relation to their thrift shopping. Shoppers recycled back to thrift stores items bought previously in thrift stores or items from other sources that had been in personal use. Thrift store items were usually recycled among family, friends and then to thrift stores, as illustrated in the quote below. 7 dotmted it back. Mainly to Goodwill. I figure, I got so many good bargains tlwre, that zvhen 1 have, be it something that I bought and changed my mind on, or ez'en my own things that 1 filter out. I'll check with my daughter first, do you want this. And if she says no, then 1 put it in my trunk. I'vegotafdo things right nozcabookand a shoiver rack, that next time I'm by a (ôdiuill

I'll just drop it off (Ann, 38 years old). Having described a number of thrifty practices undertaken by shoppers in this study, the paper will now turn to a second major goal of the study, analysing the hedonic value of thrift shopping. Hedonic value of thrift shopping

7 zvait for things to be marked down. I mean I have tbis theory basically if I was meant to have it, it'll be there when I come back. For example, see this glass bride and groom there? They want like $24 for it. And that would make a really nice cake topper for a wedding cake. It's well worth that,but I won't pay that. So, 1 just wait a zveek or tzoo, because every week on Monday the store marks things down and I will buy it

'Thrift shopping is something exciting. It's just the thrill of the hunt. Just knowing that one piece is out there zoaiting for you to find it. Overall it's just fun. It's a form of entertainment for me. I mean some people like to read and some people like to go to movies and, you knozo 1 like to do those things. If I have to list fiz'e things to do, I'd probably say thrift shoppingat the top. 'Cause it is fun' (Tammy,

cheaper" (Tammy, 40 years old).

40 years old).

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Thrift shopping is economic shopping where consumers derive hedonic benefits. As the above quotes illustrate, participants described their experiences of thrift shopping, among other characteristics, as fun, exciting, a hobby, a treasure hunt, satisfying and unexpected. In this section, a description of the hedonic benefits that consumers derive from thrift shopping are provided. The authors identified two types of hedonic values that consumers derive from thrift shopping: realisation of consumer fantasies and the pursuit of the unexpected. Realisation of consumer fantasies

Thrift shopping allows consumers to realise their consumption desires (Belk et al, 2003) as supported by this study, for example, 'I do not thrift shop to simply fulfil my basic needs, but to fulfil wants and desires' (Rita, 50 years old). Thrift shopping allowed these consumers to fulfil their desire for luxury and collectable items. Campbell (1987) argues that modern consumption is luxury consumption, where luxury constitutes a means to pleasure. In thrift shopping, the pursuit and experience of luxury emerge side by side with the experience of thrift. The items that attracted most attention and were purchased most avidly by participants in the study were what they called 'treasures', 'gems' and 'jewels'. From this study, 'treasures' included the following three categories. First, items made out of special materials such as silk, leather, linen, fine cotton, wool (cashmere) etc. Secondly, treasures included well-known mass-market brands, such as Agnes, Liz Claiborne, Tom Hilfiger, Cross, Christian Dior, Jones of New York and, not surprisingly, luxury brands such as Armani. A third category of treasures comprised collectible items, such as crystal, silver, wooden antiques, or special glass designs. Purchased for so little, shoppers also considered these items to be great bargains.

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'/ happened to pick up an inexpensive bread basket, silver. I collect apple-shapes and this was done in the shape of the apple. It zvould not hai>e been that expensive to buy it nezo—might be $10. But I happened to find it at half price at a thrift shop and 1 think it zvas a dollar and a half. That is more my speed. I can indulge my fantasy for apples. You can indulge yourself

(Silvia, 54 years old). Pursuit of the unexpected

The second way in w^hich consumers in this study generated hedonic value from thrift shopping was through the pursuit of the unexpected. Thrift shoppers did not approach thrift shopping with a specific goal in mind, but rather they described their experience as follows. 'You never know what you are going to find. It's a puzzle. If we find something fine, if not, that is fine as well, and that happens' (field notes). For these respondents, thrift shopping was shopping for surprise and luck—a continuous search for hidden 'treasures' waiting to be found. Searching and thinking about this surprise were fun and became a hobby or even an obsession where the game's object was finding 'jewels' for the lowest possible price. This behaviour is consistent with Miller's (1998) argument that thrift is the goal of provisioning shopping to the extent that it transforms the purpose and the value ofitems purchased. In addition, bargain shopping is a fun and exhilarating experience for consumers, as shown in the following quote. R: 'Oh, it's great fun. It's almost like a hobby. That it's like a treasure hunt.' I: 'Wliat is fun about it?' R : ' . . . Buying something loi'ely for pennies on the dollar. I think that zoould have to do it; just great fun, a great outlet. And finding more you knozc being able to have more items for paying

less' (Blaire, 50 years old). The role of thrift in thrift shopping

The third goal of the study was to examine the role of thrift in relation to the hedonic aspects of thrift shopping. Two effects were identified from the data. First, that thrift transforms thrift

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shopping into a moral activity. Secondly, that thrift shoppers use thrift as a cultural resource (Holt, 2002) to rationalise and realise their fantasies and wasteful behaviour. These two points are elaborated below. Thrift shopping as a moral context The authors use Miller's (1998) metaphors of sacrifice and thrift to make the argument that thrift shopping is constructed as a moral context. In his analysis of the process of sacrifice. Miller (1998) shows that, regardless of its appearance as an act of destruction, it is a moral process that brings people closer to the divine. Following this logic, there are two types of 'sacrifice' that thrift shoppers engage in which transform thrift shopping into a moral activity. First, as shown in the first sections under 'Findings', thrift emerges as a key purpose of thrift shopping. Following Miller's (1998) argument then, thrift ritually transforms thrift shopping (as any other type of economic shopping) into a moral process. In addition, there is a second type of sacrifice that occurs in thrift shopping which is not present in first-hand economic shopping. In his description of sacrifice. Miller (1998) points out that the sacrificial products are the perfect and the flawless objects. Similarly, thrift shoppers see first-hand stores as the 'original', 'the best' and the ulfimate standard against which thrift shopping is positioned. As a result, by choosing to thrift shop, thrift shoppers sacrifice firsthand store shopping. As a result, the authors argue that, compared to first-hand shopping, there is a double sacrifice in the thrift shopping context making it highly 'moral' in the parficipants' view. Belk et al (2003) argue that consumers justify their desires through moral arguments and that every culture creates specific social contexts where indulgence and fulfilment of desires are approved. For informants in this study, shopping in thrift stores was just such a context where the indulgence

of desires was justified on the moral grounds of thrift. The pursuit of hedonic pleasures is a key motivation in thrift shopping. Thrift as a cultural resource The above conclusion is also supported by looking at the ways in which consumers use thrift in relation to treat. The interview data show that consumers used thrift as a way of justifying treat. The coexistence of thrift and treat in thrift shopping is reflected in several contradictory practices in which the consumers engaged. The authors identified five non-thrifty, even wasteful, shopping practices that these consumers engaged in which should be in confiict with the moral value of thrift, but, as shown, each of them is justifiable within the normative framework of thrift shopping. First, consumers mentioned that sometimes they bought things during thrift shopping just because they were on sale. Secondly, on several occasions these thrift shoppers pointed out that they had no regrets for buying stuff in thrift shops that they would never use or might not even like. 'It just costs 99 cents!' (Rita, 50 years old). Thirdly, following the previous point, consumers became careless while shopping and bought things that they did not really need. Fourthly, thrift shoppers sometimes bought in excess of their needs, and showed no regret for this. Fifthly, consumers showed no regret for shopping for luxury items and fulfilling 'crazy' fantasies they might have while thrift shopping. The following quote provides a good illustration of the way in which these consumers used thrift as a cultural resource to justify the realisation of their desires and wasteful purchasing pracfices. 'Maybe it's clothing or something, that I wasn't looking for it. I really don't need it but it catches my eye. So, I just go ahead and I purchase it. The way that I can justify that is usually then the price. It's like, well... And especially, like Silvia and I used to do. We both

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Fleura Bardhi and Eric J. Arnould used to smoke and it's been three and a half years for me since I quit. I can usually always justify that, that's less than you know a pack of cigarettes. That's nothing' (Tammy, 40 years

old). CONCLUSION

This study took a dialectical perspecfive on a type of economic shopping—thrift shopping—and examined the coexistence of thrift and treat. Consistent with existing work in marketing (Lastovicka et al, 1999), this study found that thrift is understood by consumers in terms of the following dimensions: savings, avoiding waste, careful management of current resources and extension of products' useful life. In line with Miller's (1998) findings on shopping, this study shows that thrift is a pervasive value and a goal that drives thrift shopping. Furthermore, this study provides a detailed description of some of the ways in which thrift is practised. The authors identified and described six different thrifty practices that consumers engaged in within the context of thrift shopping (see Table 1), By studying both the thrift and treat aspects of thrift shopping, this study extends Miller's (1998) findings on thrift by showing that the pursuit of thrift per se can be part of a hedonic shopping experience, that is, the thrill of the hunt motif. The authors idenfified two ways in which shoppers turn thrift shopping, which is ostensibly an economic shopping context, into a hedonic context in which they can indulge their fantasies and pursue surprise and the unexpected. The final goal of the study was to examine the role that thrift plays in coexistence with treat. Thrift shopping may be constructed as a moral context from the consumers' perspective that allows for fulfilment of desires and personal indulgence. Thrift shoppers in this study used thrift as a cultural resource to jusfify their non-thriftiness and fanciful indulgences. The authors consider this to be a novel finding that challenges the traditional frugality perspective which dichotomises thrift 232

and hedonic desire as opposite and contradictory orientations. From a managerial perspective this understanding of the use of thriftiness as a cultural resource in legitimating the expression of consumer desire has useful implications. Sales promotions may allow consumers to construct a retail context as a thrifty, and therefore moral, one. In consequence, retail managers can help consumers create 'moral' contexts that will authorise and justify consumers' self-indulgences. In other words, in such contexts consumers may engage in freer spending. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Fleura Bardhi would like to thank Hans Joerg Czap, Risto Moisio and James W. Gentry for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this work, as well as Linda Price for her encouragement in writing this piece. The author also thanks Susan Wilson and Bonny McGuire for their assistance with the data collection. This paper is dedicated to the wonderful thrift shopping ladies who continuously surprised and challenged the authors' thinking. REFERENCES Arnold, M,J, and Reynolds, K,E,(2(X)3) 'Hedonicshopping motivations', lournal of Retailing, 79(2), 77-95, Amould. E, J, (2000) 'Bookreview',

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