Kangaroo Shoppers Rely on Mom’s Wallet
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
On Sunday morning at Shinsegae Department Store in downtown Seoul, Lee Yoo-kyung lays her hands on a pair of silver Prada flats. And then, instead of calculating how the 300,000-won purchase would work with her monthly finances, she looks at her mom.
"My mom feels sorry for me so she almost always pays for my shopping," says the 34-year-old housewife, who has been married to an ordinary salaried worker for four years with one toddler.
"It's not that I'm poor but I definitely have far less money than my mom so she's happy to take me out," says Lee, while locking arms with her 60-something-year-old mother.
The mother-and-daughter pair hits the mall about once a month, during which mom spends about 500,000 won on her daughter's personal needs.
"I can afford to spare that much on my daughter," says the mother without reservation. "Even if she is married, she's still my child."
Lee's overdependence might come off as odd to some, but salespeople don't think so. In fact, they even gave such daughters a name: So-called "kangaroo shoppers," the clan of married women aren't ashamed to let their mother do the spending for their vanity.
These daughters are arguably a result of "kangaroo parents," a term used in Korea to label protective parents who keep their kids in their pouch and excessively protect them beyond a socially acceptable age.
"More than half of our shoppers are mother-and-daughter duos," says a saleswoman at Botticelli, a high-end label at Lotte Department Store.
She said moms usually aggressively push their daughters to pick out "whatever they wish," adding that this is why she favors serving that particular shopping pair.
A saleswoman at Time, a popular women's wear brand, is also delighted to see mothers and daughters walking through the door side by side.
"They usually leave with at least one item," the sales agent said. "Plus, they're fast."
She said that compared to women shopping with friends, those out with their mothers tend to make quicker judgments because their moms speed up the process with straightforward advice.
"Mothers aren't afraid of telling their daughters that they look ugly or chubby in a certain color," the sales clerk said, "but friends are more careful and indirect."
It may be for the honest advice or the financial help, but married 20- and 30-something women are increasingly choosing to become "kangaroo shoppers."
Online shopping mall G Market surveyed 1,594 married women and nearly 47 percent said they shop with their moms.
To capitalize on the trend, local brands like Botticelli, Madam Polla and JR have begun introducing new labels designed separately for mothers and daughters, but displayed in one store.
"We want both generations to find something they want to buy," said an official of Madam Polla, an older women's label which recently started a sister brand called "Blue Label" for those in their 20s and 30s.
Cho Young-hyun, Shinsegae's women's wear merchandiser, admits that some people are critical of over-dependent adults.
But she added, "For these cash-crunched women, a once-in-a-while shopping spree with their moms sets them free from housework, children and the constant stress of being frugal."