My husband (a reluctant shopper) and I began in McArthur Glen.

The consumer was generally a reluctant shopper.

However, I would suggest another reason that so many of my baby-boomer peers have converted from passionate to reluctant shoppers.

Hastily she grabbed her purchases and moved through the checkout chute covered the exit, where shoppers, reluctant to go outside, had formed a bottleneck.

This picture was underlined by today's inflation data: clothing and footwear prices are sharply lower as retailers try to attract reluctant shoppers to part with their money.

So if a coupon is worth more, the additional savings - even if only a nickel - may be enough to entice a reluctant shopper to clip, sort, save and use it.

In fact, when I phoned Charlie Reynolds, a spokesman for Hagglezone.com's owner, One2OneDynamics Inc., he told me that reluctant shoppers may end up softening the software's stance.

Even shoppers reluctant to cross a picket line have devised strategies to make their way into the store.

Now the target is the traditional man, who by all accounts has been a reluctant shopper.

But is there a future in luring reluctant shoppers electronically, or are the technological gizmos only a carnival sideshow?