Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with intent to purchase at that time. Shopping is the activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one.

To many, shopping is considered a recreational activity in which one visits a variety of stores in search of a suitable product to purchase. "Window shopping" is an activity that shoppers engage in by browsing shops with no intent to purchase, possibly just to pass the time between other activities, or to plan a later purchase.

To some, shopping is a task of inconvenience and vexation. Shoppers sometimes go though great lengths to wait in long lines to buy popular products as typically observed with early adopters shoppers and holiday shoppers.

More recently compulsive shopping has been recognised as an addiction. Also referred as shopping addiction, "shopaholism" or formally oniomania, these shoppers have an impulsive uncontrollable need to go shopping. The term "retail therapy" is used in a less serious context.