In a recent study, researchers at Wharton’s Jay. H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group found ” that women react more strongly than men to personal interaction with sales associates”. Women shop for the personal interaction and men shop for the sole purpose of purchasing the product they came in to buy. Parking and how long the shopping will take concerns them more than who they will meet in the experience. This difference in shopping ‘purpose’ has become increasingly definitive and important in today’s marketing strategies.
On the whole women like to feel important when shopping, their role as caregiver is still there even though there is a large shift to independence. This is confirmed as more and more women find shop assistants irritating and intrusive.
So how can this trend be dealt with and turned to one’s advantage? How can stores capitalize in this shift in consumer trends?
By adapting to the changes in consumer preferences, online stores are benefiting from the increased traffic. Taking cognisance of statistics such as 65% of Internet users won’t patronize a poorly designed site, will help your online store succeed in this competitive market.
Social shopping websites such as crowdstorm are increasing in popularity. They offer the shopper ‘interaction’ with others and allow you to make better informed decisions based on what a crowd thinks and recommends. You can now see what others think of your chosen product and make your decision based on their reviews. “Crowdstorm attempts to address this market fragmentation by aggregating content from experts across the web (buyers guides, reviews, blog posts) and blend it with content and question / answer style advice from people you trust (friends, family, colleagues, peers…). “
Women are looking for a complete shopping experience online. They want the interaction without the interruption. They want other’s opinions, ratings, and choices and to be able to give their opinion, their ratings and list their favorite choices. It is about Me, You, Them and Us It is really Web 2.0 for shoppers.
Men are looking for a slightly easier online shopping experience. They want technical details and for it to be as painless as possible. For example www.shopping.com and www.amazon.com have removed the last phase of checkout where you have a final review of your basket resulting in increased sales volumes. They have also made checking out and paying simpler, easier and less stressful.
However as with everything it is not just black and white, men and women. There is a shift towards a common ground and even a reversal of roles.
Still the predominant movement is: Women like to shop and Men prefer to buy. So when targeting your market think twice about what it really is that your consumers want. A shopping experience, or a product?
Nice insight - I definitely think it depends on the category though. I will analyse every single new technical detail about buying a new car where as my wife goes mainly on brand and what looks nice. In contrast, she will spend ages studying the details of a hotel to stay in where I just want to go to a nice five star one with a spa!
That’s funny - I was just talking to my wife about this post of yours, and the way we look at the features of our website. I tend to agree with you - while I look at just “let’s find the best deals for users”, she’s very interested in the social aspects of the shopping process.
Thanks Philip,
I agree with you that it is very much category specific. Men love the technical details of cars, computers, mobile phones and so forth and for women it is more about the appearance. Hope to have a more in depth study up soon.
Thanks Dmitry,
Yeah I think it is an interesting topic affecting web shopping. A few people have come out saying it is down to the Men being Hunters and Women being Gatherers but I think it isn’t so specific. Hop eto have some more research on it soon.
P.S. Am liking Pikaba, it is a great concept and nice to see it is linking with social media such as Facebook.