Retail is the domain of women. Dahhhh!! We shop to purchase both essential and discretionary goods, to relax, to socialize and to find the latest trend item. So it’s not surprising that women account for over 80 % of consumer spending, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Men, in contrast, are reluctant store shoppers and much more focused, shopping only when they need to. This can be evidenced at any local shopping mall when you see men lined up outside clothing stores, while their partners are inside shopping. They don’t want to be there! And it seems that this stereotypical behaviour carries over to online shopping. I know that no one would be surprised by those statistics!

So how do we differ? Women are more emotionally vested in our purchases. We will wonder among products and categories and click through to the next item, usually ending up looking at something totally different than what we intended to. I am certainly guilty of this and can find myself easily spending hours on line browsing much to my credit cards (and hubby’s) dismay.

Women will quickly scan the product page then go to the next product they want. Also women tend to shop more in their lunch hour whereas men tend to shop in the evening. (that’s right we will find any excuse to shop). Women will take much longer in a dressing room than men and this transfers online with women taking longer on average to make purchases.

Men tend to stick to their mission when shopping online although they will intensely research the page and all the details and images. They are more focused and intend to buy a specific item quickly. Men search by product whilst women search by brand. Men tend to dig and are more tactical. I’m sure you will notice this when you watch your partner shopping online. My hubby will examine things in great detail, comparison shop and bookmark pages in order to go back and view it all again. It drives me nuts! Just buy it!

So it appears that the gender divide is quite apparent!

There is no right or wrong just different. Our brains are programmed differently so it stands to reason that our shopping habits should vary greatly also. Although you can thank us ladies for keeping the economy going.