17 days til Christmas

Why men don’t like to shop

Only 17 days ‘til Christmas!
Ever wonder why Santa wears a matching red suit? It could be because men don’t like to shop, and it was the easiest thing to match. The Herald Newspapers interviewed Anne Marie Luthro, Research Director of Environsell Inc. Environsell is a behavioral market research and consulting company, whose specialty is examining consumer shopping behavior using a combination of in-store video recording and customer intercept interviews.
“Men don’t like to shop because they are culturally new to shopping,” Ms. Luthro said. “Nobody has taught them to shop, so they are uncomfortable with it, just as women are uncomfortable fixing cars, because it is not something we were taught.”
Divorce and working wives are two reasons why men’s roles are changing in the mall. Dad now has to go to the store sometimes, if he wants something to eat.
Luthro shared several other gender differences shoppers have. “Men tend to be less creative than women, so they have a high rate of buying the whole outfit on the manikin. Shopping is a task to be done.”
“Women, on the other hand approach shopping as an entertainment.” She continued. “they rarely buy the whole manikin, but consider it part of their creativity to put an outfit together in a personal way. Women feel like they have little ‘insider’ ways of shopping.”
The sexual stereotype of shopper is slowly changing, though. There is a brand new trend. Young boys have been seen shopping in the malls, not in packs, like the girls, or as entertainment, but to pick out an outfit.
Another big influence on adolescent shoppers is online shopping and cable television shopping channels. Young people know about and habe access to fashions sooner than they used to.
A new market has now opened up for older guys. It is a whole line of products just for them- deodorants, hair gel, and much more. Guys are showing up at soccer games with gel in their hair, looking very attractive to that gang of girls who watch them from the sidelines.
Envirosell is a testing agency for Fortune 500 banks, stores, restaurant chains and consumer product companies with offices in New York City, Europe, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Turkey, with 25 years experience. As a research agency they have been pioneers in developing research systems to document and analyze shopping behavior.
Understanding the differences in the way men and women shop encourages us to be a little more patient when he wants to run in the mall and run out, or she wants to stay there for 4 hours. Christmas is the time of year when we remember God’s gift of love- shopping let’s us express that love to one another in a practical way.