Cultural Differences: Consumerism

Differences between the Finns and North Americans when it comes to shopping and buying habits.

Finns are affluent people due to their well developed economy, strong welfare state that virtually prevents the development of an underclass, and excellent education and health care systems. Even with all of this affluence, my opinion is that shopping behavior and consumer spending patterns are different from those in North America. As an American who has lived in Finland for 18 months, I believe that there are fewer opportunities and temptations to spend money in Finland.

Why? It is hard to say for sure. One simplistic reason is that shops are not open very long so you have less time to spend your money. Most shops are open Mon. – Fri. from 10:00 to 6 or 7pm, Sat. from 10-3, and closed on Sunday. This includes grocery stores. During the summer and before Christmas, stores have “Sunday hours,” meaning they open from maybe noon until 6pm.

While there are shopping malls and multinational chain stores, I think there are fewer than in other Western capitals. Finland has a few “big box” stores like IKEA, Bauhaus (hardware chain), and ONOFF (electronics) located in one or two areas outside the city, so it is less convenient to stop by regularly. People usually travel there to get something specific. Also, Finland lacks stores like Target or Wal-Mart, catch all retailers selling a million different things, where it is easy to walk in for some batteries and walk out with $50 of stuff you didn’t even know you wanted or needed before it enticed you with its low price and perceived usefulness.

The larger baby stores in Helsinki pale in comparison to Babies R Us (American chain) in terms of selection, attractiveness of the store, and price variation. While there are sales in Finland, they don’t occur often and my impression is that merchandise does not turn over quickly. Maybe people don’t buy so much may be because many apartments and homes tend to be smaller than those in the US, making it hard to store the 48 rolls of toilet paper you got at a great price from a bulk warehouse.

It is not that people don’t consume or have nice things – look at all of the nice cars driving around Helsinki, the trips to warm weather resorts during the long, bleak winter, or the cell phones glued to the ears of teenagers. It’s just that consumerism is low key and there aren’t flashing neon signs, sale circulars in the newspaper, coupons in the mail, and round the clock shopping opportunities tempting you to buy that bread machine, foot massager, or other item that seemed like a great time saver/life enhancer but eventually sits unused in a closet, collecting dust and creating so much clutter it prompts you to give it away four years later during a fit of organization and streamlined living. But, sometimes you just want to go to a store on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 and have such a wide selection that you stand there, studying the features on different variations of the same product for twenty minutes before heading to the checkout, finding the store club card, and rubbing the coupon with a coin to see if your discount will be 5%, 10%, or 20%.

It’s a cultural difference.