The Importance Of Ritual In Shopping For Christmas

Introduction
Rituals is often associated with religious or mystical significance. Ritual refers to a type of expressive, symbolic activity constructed of various behaviours that occur in a fixed, episodic sequence, and that end to be repeated over time. In an article by McCracken (1998, p.84), he states that ritual is “a social action devoted to the manipulation of cultural meaning for purposes of collective and individual communication and categorization. Ritual is an opportunity to affirm, evoke, assign, or revise the conventional symbols and meaning of the cultural order”
Cultural rituals are activities that combine blueprints for action and understanding. They consist of behaviors that occur in a relatively fixed space and are repeated

It is a time of sharing, of feasting, of indulgence and of great celebration… Shopping for Christmas is always in bulk purchases thanks to the stokvel money and Christmas bonuses or personal savings. In other words, everyone must have something in their house that’s new at Christmas because of impulse purchasing behavior. Clothing purchases are not made at a specific time of year, but rather during sales or specific promotions (Simpson & Dore, 2004:38). Because positioning is conveying the product’s benefits and image to potential or existing customers and illustrate an unfilled need, Edgars Christmas ads are inducing, “#EdgarsSeasonSorted; effortless style is just five simple steps away, with our seasonal edit. Edgars is saving the season with Christmas

It labels brands that we use to perform our rituals fortress brands because once they become embedded in our ceremonies –whether we use them to brush our teeth, drink a beer, or shave – we’re unlikely to replace them. The researchers found, overall, people worldwide practice roughly the same consumer rituals (Solomon, 2010:559).
Many businesses benefit because they supply ritual artifacts to consumers. These are items we need to perform rituals, such as a baby shower gifts, medical aid, maternity dress, chocolate, and etc. “Baby shower is a way to celebrate the pending or recent birth of a child by presenting gifts to the mother at a party, whereas other cultures host a baby shower to celebrate the transformation of a woman into a mother. Children are born every day”. Being pregnant means it is the season for buying baby clothes, food, nappies and toys. Medical bills increase and so does future life planning. As babies are born every day, it is vital for marketers to keep up with the rate at which babies are born and constantly promote their products for this particular niche market. Medical Aid schemes such as Discovery Vitality Baby provide special medical covers for mothers during their pregnancy and also offer care for them and their babies when they are