Studies show that the way people shop can influence how much they spend. If we ever came home after shopping and wondered why in the world did I buy that?, the answer might have to do with our shopping personality type. These are the 5 types of shoppers:

1. The Touchy-Feely Shopper a shopper that picks smth up and then usually purchases it.2. The Mall Lingerer these shoppers take their time going through a store.3. Guerrilla Shopper the opposite of the mall lingerer. This person waits until the last minute, especially around the holiday season, and then runs around frantically, trying to get all the shopping done in one shot.4. The Sales Junkie these people are subjected to a spillover effect. If they see one bargain, they think everything in the store is a bargain, making them apt to spend more money.5. The Social Shopper this type enjoys shopping with friends and almost never shops alone, they tend to make a lot of impulsive purchases.

What Americans buy is divided into two major categories. First, there's spending on necessities such as food, housing and clothing. Second, there's discretionary spending which includes the buying of non-essential goods and services.America's buying habits have been well documented. In 2009, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, Americans spent $1.13 trillion on discretionary purchases.The data provides a reasonably accurate picture of the nation's amusements and entertainment, it's interests, hobbies, indulgences and vices. The 10 most common discretionary purchases of goods and services are: apparel products and services (including dry cleaning, storage of clothing, rental of clothing, jewelry and watch repair), tobacco, alcohol, fees and admissions, vacation lodging, hobbies, toys, pets and playground equipment, television, radio and sound equipment, gifts and food not consumed at home.

In UK, a study reveals that people are constantly doing more of their shopping online than in the ordinary physical stores.It seems this trend is much more common to the South East though, as theannual Retail Report from John Lewisindicates that people living in northern cities such as Edinburgh, Newcastle or Liverpool still tend to do most of their shopping in bricks-and-mortar establishments. Physical stores are far from finished though, as s study also revealed that a convergence of virtual and physical worlds is becoming more and more usual. 40% of shoppers aged 35 or less have done showrooming, meaning they browsed items on their smartphone while visiting a store. Whats more, the large brands equipped their staff with iPods or iPads to make it easier for customers to order out-of-stock items for delivery to their home or directly to the store.The latter service, known as click-and-collect, is on the rise as well and is offered by Amazon and Selfridges among other retailers.Social shopping, although not new to 2013, is still on the rise. 35% of British consumers follow brands they like on social networks, expecting to receive special offers and deals in addition to being genuinely interested in what the brand has to say.All in all, changes in the British shopping climate are certainly happening as we speak. More and more shopping is done online, so the High Street shops have to do new things to retain their customers, including making it possible to browse the full catalogue or order items while visiting the store.For many stressed-out people, the best remedy for a stressful day at work or the sting of a painful breakup is the smell of brand-new clothing, the feel of a silk dress and the sound of a credit card being swiped.Perhaps unsurprisingly, a survey found that women were twice as likely as men to use retail therapy as a way to cope with stress (40% vs. 19%). And in turn, men were more than twice as likely as women (34% vs. 16%) to say that they had never shopped out of stress and would never consider doing so in the future.But gender aside, there is one trait many "stress-shoppers" have in common: they tend to seek distracting, temporary fixes to alleviate their stress. HuffPost's survey found that those who shop to deal with anxiety were also "stress-eaters" and "stress-exercisers." Those who used retail therapy are distancing themselves from the stress with an unrelated activity rather than facing it head-on. In contrast, the respondents who said they never shop to deal with stress were more likely to cope by finding the root of their anxiety and confronting it.Shopping can be totally cathartic. Whether you're just browsing or in need of an entirely new wardrobe, perusing those racks can be the most exciting part of any week. That said, this simple task can alsocause quite a lot of stress and sometimes a trip to the mall leaves us with more anxiety than we came with. The things that stress us about shopping are super loud music, unflattering lightening, the lack of mirros in the fitting room, long lines at the checkout, when only one person is allowed to enter the fitting room, when you are not allowed to take more items in the fitting room, when you can find your size or when the shop assistant gives you fashion advises and recommends hideous items.