originally, shopping is the action of buying things on stores. and like many other human's action, shopping is a result of one of our demands, here is the feeling of in short of some goods. but the need of shopping is also a special demand, cuz it can appear for many other mental reason. for example, like in an shopping-anthem song, "love's like a runway so what's all the fussing for? let's stop chasing them boy and shop some more". shopping is a common solution, which often be chosen by women, for getting over a break-up, a despair, a shock, or any negative emotion. sometime we go shopping just because we don't have anything to spend my money for, but sometime shopping's someone's passion. and with a shopaholic, shopping even means everything in their life. hope that helps.

Shopping is a verbal noun -- it is the act of going to shop. Shop as a noun means store. Shop as a verb means to go to stores and buy things in those stores. So "I went shopping." means that I went to a shop and bought things. Women often shop more than men, but this is not always the case.