GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR - PDF document

GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 1 Effects Of Gender On Shopping Behavior Pukjira Ittarut Mahidol University International Demonstration School GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 2 Abstract This study document that men and women show different shopping behavior. Researcher gathered information by doing some survey and observation. Researcher is looking for the differences between two sexes when they are shopping because nowadays marketing wan ts to focus on how to increase consumers’ consumption in their businesses so they will have more profits. Another reason is that people behavior are so interested and varied like they are endlessly things to find in human behavior. The significant results are first, women like to take care of other family members and they are also like to visit the store more often than men. In another hand man are the one who make decision in everything. Significant limitation is data was collected in one place with small participants so the data cannot be generalized. The results suggest that gender behavior may not be apply to all considering the lurking variables such as household income and the distance between shopping mall and participant’s house may effect on shoppin g behavior not only gender. Introduction In the past, marketing treated the same way to every sexes. They think that male or female both are the same anyway. And then when capitalism came in, people try to earn as much money as possible, this is when ma rketing realized that two sexes are different. Nowadays, marketing cares more about the differences between sexes than ever before in mankind history. Due to the research that have been conducting throughout the decades, more and more research show the dif ferences behavior between two sexes. Male don’t really care about interaction with sale association but they care about where can they find goods and the least problems as possible. In the other hand, female needs interaction with sale association, they wa nt someone they can ask for advices when they have problems during shopping. If we know how to treat two sexes in the right way, we can rise up our marketing profits. Each person acts differently to different things, the fun time is when you try to find lo gic and patterns behind this. Literature review Women or female is the biggest influence on economy because according to University of Pennsylvania (2007), women is the biggest payer which spend $4 trillion per year or count as an 83% of all “Consumer spe nding”. “Sales associations” are very important GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 3 for women because “lack of help when needed” is the top problem for them (para. 9, 10). According to the article “Sex, shopping and thinking pink” in the Economist, Women like pink colors, it may be because o f our evolution that pink or reddish color refer to the color of ripe fruits. Women can do many things at the same time or so call multi - tasking, for example they can talk on the phone while doing make up and searching for car key at the same time. Women i n ancient time are more likely to do the gathering jobs instead of going out hunting (Kruger & Byker, 2009, p. 329, para. 5) . But sometime we can find them going out hunting in a “small game” (p. 329, para. 5) Men or male is believed to ha te shopping but is it that real? Do men really hate shopping? Why do they hate shopping? Well, according to L’Oreal, “men’s skin care was its fastest growing sector” (Odgen - Barnes, 2011, p. 6, para. 1) . Another evidence that support the point that men don’ t really hate shopping is that in Japan, men’s cosmetics section grew 17% in 2008 (p. 6, para.1). So men don’t really hate shopping but they experienced stress while shopping with their partners (p.13, para. 1). In fact, they experienced little to no stres s at all when they’re shopping alone. Men are different from women because when they shopping, they will set the goal and try to accomplish it (p. 13, para.1). And on average, men can only do a single task at a time or they are monochromic (p. 6, para. 2), for example they cannot listen to music while cooking and browsing through the internet at the same time. According to University of Pennsylvania, men ranked “Difficulty in finding parking close to the store’s entrance” as their number one problem. In “Se x, shopping, and thinking pink” article of The Economist, when rated their own navigating skills, men rated themselves higher than women. Are women better than men in shopping? On average, women are better than men in many many ways. Wom en can do many things that men can’t do. Most women are the ones that take care of the house and family so women are really concern about their family. Women are more expressive (Noble, Griffith, & Adjei, 2006, p.181, para. 5) , more price - concerned (Odgen - Barnes, 2011, p.6, para. 5) , and their memory on object and location are better than men (Kruger & Byker, 2009, p. 330, para. 3) . Women see shopping differently than men, they see shopping as a way to be socialize and to be entertained ( p. 334, para. 5 ) . According to University of Pennsylvania (2007), women also enjoy shopping and looking forward for a good personal reaction with sale assistant. When come to pay in small amount, women are more likely to pay by cash or debit (Odgen - GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 4 Barnes, 2011, p. 7, para. 3) . The loyalty to local shop or merchant, women are more likely to be loyal to them more than men (Noble, Griffith, & Adjei, 2006, p. 187, para. 2) . Are men better than women in shopping? On average, men are better than women in some ways but still quit e mysterious for people that whether or not men like shopping. Men did not have some abilities that help with shopping and their brains did not build to these types of situation like shopping. But according to Kruger & Byker (2009), “men are better able to use abilities advantageous to hunting ” and men are also way better than women in map reading and directions ( p. 330, para. 3) . According to Noble, Griffith, & Adjei, men are more productive and “m en will be motivated by convenience more than women ” so thi s reason leads to the point that men will prefer using self - checkout technology rather than waiting in line ( Odgen - Barnes, 2011, p.7, para. 2) . When checkout, they are more likely to use cash or debit in larger amount (Odgen - Barnes, 2011, p.7, para. 3) . In Korea, men will more likely to report dissatisfied with the clothes they purchase more than women ( p. 9, para. 2) . Methods A survey was conducted on teenagers voluntarily by sending links through social media. Questions in survey are asking about their behaviors in shopping such as how much they pay each time or how often do they visit the store. Survey is also asking a littl e bit about the participants’ background because their background maybe affect their shopping behaviors. The purpose of doing survey is to study the shopping behaviors between men and women. The observation was conducted only in one shoes department in on e department store. The time spending there is 2 hours on Saturday. They day that observation was conducted can affect the result of the observation because the difference of cases that have been collected. The purpose of observation is to observe shopping behaviors between men and women PARTICIPANTS Through a survey, a total of sixteen participants were surveyed for this study. All participants were volunteered and they age are under eight - teen. The participants in GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 5 observation were picked by people who come with their partners or family, there are no age restriction in the observation. R esul ts R esult s from survey 37% 63% Gender Male Female 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Under 18 18 - 24 Age Male Female 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1-3 times per week 4-6 times per week 6 times or more per week How often do you visit department store? Female Male GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 6 R esults from observation note Family members Actions Mother & Daughter Mother is picking things. Daughter helps in decision. Moth er, father and 3 children Mother made the decision. Father carried the cart. Kids are running around. Grandmother, mother, father and 2 children Father made some decision but mother made the most decision. Grandma takes care of the kids. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 $5-$50 per time $51-$100 per time $100 or more per time How often do you usually spend Female Male 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% $0 - $24,999 $25,000 - $49,000 $50,00 - $74,999 $75,000 - $99,999 $100,000 - $124,999 $125,000 - $149,999 $150,000 - $174,999 $175,000 - $199,999 $200,000 and up none What is your approxiamte average household income? Male Female GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 7 Father, mother and a child Mother is picking up things but father decides whether or not to buy. Grandpa, mother and a child Mom picks everything. Females are more likely to be the one that take care of everything. Implications The results are meaning that different gender has different shopping behaviors and it’s important because the studies of shopping behaviors can help t he marketing management to improve the circulations. O ne part of the survey results are very m uch unexpected because one male visits department store more than 6 times per week different from what expected that female must visit the department store the most. Th ere are no unusual trends happen in the results. The results cannot be generalized because the participants are coming from the same social class in the survey part and the sample size in observation part is too small. The explanation for what is unexpecte d is maybe there are lurking variables such as the distance between the department store and participant’s house can affect how many times they visit the store, etc. Suggestion for further research are in the survey part should ask the distance between the department store and participant’s house and should go to many many places to collect the data so the sample size is big enough to be generalize. Limitation Methods limitation The sample sized was too small and a small changes in the number of response can cause a big change in result. The data in observation is difficult to find and they are too many lurking variables so these cause the data is unreliable. There are biased in the observation method because the participants are coming from the same social class and this can affect the results. Researcher limitation The data collection was limited based on the location because the data collection w ere collected from the same place and this can cause the results to be different from what expected. Another reason is researcher are still under parent's advisor so researcher cannot go anywhere without parent's permission, this can also affect the result s. Last lurking variable are capital of the researcher that might be affected the results. GENDERS AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR 8 C onclusion T he purpose of this study was to study how gender influence shopping behavior. R esearcher found out that gender not the only factor that influence shopping behavior but the distance between participant s ’ houses and shopping mall or household income can also influence shopping behavior. A lthough the result was inconclusive , the data su ggests that gender can influence shopping behavior but also suggests that many other factors can also influence shopping behavior. T here may be relation ship between gender and shopping behavior but relation ship between shopping behavior and the distance between participant s ’ houses and shopping mall may be stronger fa ctor that influe nce shopping behavior. R eferences Kruger, D., & Byker, D. (2009). Evolved foraging psychology underlies sex differences in shopping experiences and behaviors. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 3 (4), 328 - 342. Retrieved from www.jsecjournal.org Noble, S. M., Griffith, D. A., & Adjei, M. T. (2006, March). Drivers of local merchant loyalty: Understanding the influence of gender and shopping motives. Journal of Retailing, 82 , 177 - 188. Retrieved from http://ac.els - cdn.com/S0022435906000364/1 - s2.0 - S00 22435906000364 - main.pdf?_tid=f5675752 - a389 - 11e3 - 8fe0 - 00000aab0f02&acdnat=1393930047_ca9f048e1ced97eb44f3bb245a509b5b Odgen - Branes, S. (2011). Australian Centre on Quality of Life . Retrieved from Deakin University Australia: http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/ gsb/retail/docs/menandshopping.pdf The Economist. (2007, August 23). Retrieved 2014, http://www.economist.com/node/9682588