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anurag
November 30th, 2002, 08:09 AM
I was reading an article on consumer behaviour and wanted to highlight the differences between the shopping behaviour of the two genders. Hope this reading helps the husbands in understanding why their wives spend so much time shopping :-)

--- Article Extracts ----
** “When we look at gender differences in shopping behavior, we see that men, in general, spend less time in a store,” said Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan, marketing professor at The University of Texas at Austin. “They make up their minds what they want ahead of time, go in, grab it and get out quickly.”

Conversely, women tend to be much less goal-directed and often go shopping simply to enjoy the overall sensory experience and to gather information that may be used at a later date.

“A woman may linger for quite a while and sample things, try things on, investigate new brands without even intending to buy anything during that visit,” said Raghunathan. “They’re experimenting, and they’re very adept information-gatherers.”

** Men, according to research and observations by marketers and urban anthropologists, also seem to be less capable of taking in complicated information and processing it rapidly. For example, if they encounter a large display of pants but there are no color-coordinated shirt displays right alongside, they will simply buy a pair of pants and leave the store without searching for a shirt. A woman will be more likely to sweep the entire area of men’s clothing, ponder numerous shirt choices and buy at least one appropriate shirt.

** In a retail establishment such as Banana Republic, men’s accessories like socks are likely to be placed near the checkout counter. For men these sorts of items are impulse buys and are utilitarian goods, according to Raghunathan. They do not require extensive deliberation and can be grabbed at the last moment.

The women’s socks, however, are more likely to be placed by the dressing room or alongside pants and shirts because a woman may spend the same amount of time sampling and selecting them as she would a pair of shorts.

** Even a man can be made to linger longingly in a store—if he’s a gadget enthusiast and the store happens to hold the latest in plasma TVs and pocket PCs.

Source:
Consuming Passion--Human psychology shapes the shopping experience (25 November 2002 UT Feature article)

To read the full article go to the following link:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/

In case the feature has changed by the time you read the article, you can find this archived at:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/index.html

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Cheers
Anurag