Men vs. Womens Shopping Habits - Research Paper Example

The research paper will first provide background into the already-established shopping habits of men and women, and then explore whether these differences are equally true in online shopping. The next section of the research paper will examine whether, and to what extent, gender socialization influences these shopping behaviors. Previous research studies have already identified several differences in the shopping behavior of males and females in conventional "bricks and windows" retail stores.

The following questions will serve as a guide to examining the established patterns of shopping behaviors of women and men in physical stores. These will then be compared with research done into online shopping habits of both genders. While some of these behaviors appear to be the result of gender socialization, the analysis will attempt to uncover other rationales for them. These questions are: Do women shop without having an immediate need more often than men? Are there measurable differences in the level of impulse motivating the buying decisions of male and female shoppers?

Are the priorities of male and female shoppers different? and; Is shopping behavior based on the emotional state ("mood") of the shopper more common in women or men? Not according to Paco Underhill, marketing consultant and author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. His research shows that both men and women spend time shopping -- in specific and widely differing categories -- without having a specific need in mind as they shop. Marketing studies he has conducted for large computer retailers show that 17% of the male customers interviewed visit the stores more than once a week just to look around.

Computer equipment, video games, big screen TVs and DVDs have replaced music systems for many men as their technology focus.