Question

Topic: Customer Behavior

Why Are Men Such "back-seat" Consumers?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/17/2005 at 8:48 PM ET 430 Points
Women control 85% of all household purchases. Single women account for 18% of all home purchases; single MEN account for 8%. If you opened a shoe store, clothing store, virtually any retail store, you'd be a fool to target MEN, given the choice. Why? What's with MEN? The Susan B Koman Race for the Cure -- Women are ORGANIZED, ACTIVE. MEN seem to exist for simpler pleasures. Is their (women's) rise to consumer dominance subsiding? Are advertisers coming back to MEN (i.e., Chrysler's Macho-machines)? But, hey! I see as many women driving GM's HUMMERS as MEN! Why do you think all of this is happening, and how can we reverse the trend?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 3/18/2005 at 10:33 AM Member
    I don't know whether or not we can "reverse the trend", but it seems to me a little less "male bashing" would be a step in the right direction.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 3/18/2005 at 6:27 PM Accepted
    The fundamental behavioural issues are different between the genders.

    Caveat: The following is a sweeping generalisation built on 25 years married life experience and being the only male in an all-female household.

    Men shop with a specific outcome in mind. Then employ a simple set of processes, e.g.
    Need a suit, shoes or tie.
    Go to store, check range, fit and price.
    Narrow down choices, select, purchase, leave store.

    Women shop for other reasons not clear to me. They seem to enjoy the browsing experience, and have no clear outcome in mind. They like looking, trying, and seem to enjoy knowing what's around not just in every store in the mall, but every mall in the city and suburban aeas, far more than the final act of owning the item.

    The browsing part is a bit like the foreplay. While men just want to get on with it, do the deal, then head on back to the TV, ball game, barbecue (or maybe KHE).

    I'm sure I shall get into a lot of trouble for saying that. It's OK, I'm used to that. Refer to para 2 above...

    ChrisB

  • Posted by telemoxie on 3/19/2005 at 3:05 PM Member
    Here's a real world example: last night, I had this idea that I would take my wife to Best Buy to buy a DVD, then we would go out for dessert, then we would go home and watch the DVD.

    At Best Buy, they had at least 100 DVDs which I would have gladly purchased and watched. In over an hour of looking, my wife could not pick one. We went to Blockbuster. After an additional 45 minutes, she finally did pick one movie.

    Is this behavior "organized" and "active" while I am "slothful" and "exist for simpler pleasures" ?

    Why do women drive the new cars? You mention that lots are driving Hummers... but when that has some mileage on it, and the family gets a new car, which car will the wife be driving then?

    You mention that women buy more homes. Is it possible that they have saved money on dinners, and drinks, and so forth?

    What are your thoughts, v-man? Do you feel men are sloths? Do you feel men are immature? Do you feel men are lazy?
  • Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 3/19/2005 at 6:06 PM Member
    Fascinating question indeed; while I would not name it 'sloth;, I do agree that men like products that make their lives easier (but so do women), so that they can move on to doing stuff that really excites them: and that is not just simple pleasures, but also trying out new technologies, philosophizing with buddies over a beer, perfecting a sport etc. In many of those activities, men tend to be more aggressive than women: I often use the image of dogs and cats: when fed and warm, a cat curls up and licks its pur, while a dog is always sniffing strange things and running around without a clear aim (when I called her once after my fastest 10K run, my wife answered simply 'but I bet you ended up at the same place, right? so what is the use?'). A famous female writer (can't remember the name) claimed 'if progress was up to women, we would still live in clay huts'.
    My point: I believe the validity of your observations really depend on the kind of activity you are looking at - companies that connect with these customers can be very successful - and many previous answers provide hints on this
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 3/19/2005 at 9:25 PM Member
    Coincidentally, The Age, a Melbourne, Australia newspaper, has just published a big article about this exact subject in today's Sunday magazine.

    Unfortunately it is not yet on their website but as soon as I see it is, I shall post the link here.

    Cheers

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