ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what catalogue shopping can reveal about the assembly of commodity networks and explains the emergence of the Christmas hamper catalogue in New Zealand. It discusses how catalogue shopping practice shapes, and is shaped by, wider socialities and spatialities. Literature on global commodity chains has emphasised political economy of linkages between consumers and producers by highlighting global change. The chapter focuses on the consumption end of the chain, understanding it as a network of social and material relations, in order to examine the representations made available to consumers. It seeks to understand how such representations may shape notions of value in the catalogue commodity network. The social and cultural importance of Christmas makes it a unique selling event, linking the individual to the intangible aspects of production associated with producing value via branding and marketing, something increasingly important for the profitability of lead firms in commodity chains.
