DDB Worldwide recently conducted a major survey of online shopping behavior. The findings are interesting.
Look at the following chart, which groups people by age and gender. Where do YOU fit? Are the findings reflective of YOUR behavior?
Click the chart to learn more.
I think it’s interesting that 40% of men in the survey “ideally would buy everything online” while only 33% of women in the same age category would buy everything online. Typically, society views women as the shopaholics, but this study argues that “US men are also spending more of their lives as the primary (or sole) shopper in their households and digital is helping them along”. I think this statement reflects the increasing role that technology is playing in our everyday lives. Men (and women) find it easier to get their shopping done using mobile applications that don’t require them to go to the store, shop around, or deal with crowds and other customers. With these statistics, it is evident that younger people are migrating more towards online shopping than ever before.
I believe that the reason young men are buying things online more often than women is because they really are lazy. They rather be comfortably sitting in their favorite chair, carelessly buying everything they see. Women on the other hand, are more willing to get up and go to the store and search for the products that fit their demands best.
I found it interesting that more men than women tend to buy things online. However that’s easy to believe considering when I shop at malls, there are usually more women than men shopping around in the stores. Men find it easier clicking a few buttons on a computer rather than going out to the stores/malls and buying things in person. Also in both male and females ages 18-34, the percentages of people who use store apps and mobile devices to shop are higher than the other age groups. That is because the younger generations are so attached to their mobile devices and know how to operate the store apps that are created and most likely geared towards these audiences.
Unlike some of the other responses, I was not shocked to discover that men tend to do more online shopping than women. In the 18-34 age range men had higher percents in every category. My father and boyfriend for example hate being dragged to the mall, they rather do “one stop shopping” online and not have to try anything on or walk around for hours finding the best deal. I believe that women tend to use shopping as a social event or stress reliever, where men want to get what they need and leave.
It does not surprise me that there is a higher percentage of males that shop online then there are females. To me this seems to make sense, men are a lot more carefree about their purchase then women in the sense that if something doesn’t fit exactly correct they will still make it work. Women are a lot more picky and selective when it comes to their purchases (especially clothing) and fine importance in trying on or seeing things in person. It also doesn’t surprise me that the 18-34 year old category has a higher percentage of online shopping then the 35-64 category. The Younger generations are more accustomed to the internet and therefore feel more comfortable with using it for purchases.
I thought this was really interesting because I’m an avid shopper, online and in stores. What I found most interesting was how close all the percentages were. I would have thought that for online shopping women would have had the upper hand especially younger women shopping for deals online. But I think that my shopping tendencies do not reflect what is shown on the chart. I don’t tend to shop on auction sites at all because when I want something I want to make sure I get it and I don’t like to be checking constantly. I would also never want to buy everything online, I love being in stores too much. But I definitely found this chart interesting to see online shopping tendencies for men vs women.
I was surprised to discover that men tend do more online shopping than women. I was also shocked to discover that 40% of young men would “ideally buy everything online.” Men tend to go into a store when they know exactly what they want to purchase; they also don’t tend to stick around browsing the aisles. This is why I thought the percentage would be lower because I didn’t think men would willingly sit on a computer/smartphone browsing through pages on a website in search of what they want. The rest of the statistics didn’t surprise me at all because we live in a generation where 18-34 year-old men and women are pretty much glued to their smartphones and do just about everything on them.
I do not really find it surprising that men do more online shopping than women. In general, women enjoy more the “shopping experience”, involving window shopping, asking about the product, and talking about the product. Men, on the other hand, do not seem to care as much about the “shopping experience” in general. They would prefer to just click to purchase their products with not much interest in anything else. I am also not surprised to see that men in general are more likely to price match than women are. I’m sure if we saw statistics, we would see that men are more price conscious than women.
I’m not surprised that men do more online shopping than women. They don’t enjoy the shopping experience as much as women do and men’s clothing isn’t as inconsistent as women’s. The sizing between brands or stores for men’s clothing usually fits the same; a small is a small whether you’re buying it from Target or Old Navy. I was surprised to see men being more price conscious though. I had expected women to be the ones requesting price checks and doing the coupon-ing.