Tag Archives: shopping

Women are shoppers, men are buyers


Here’s an image that has been talked about a lot over the last year. In it we see the routes taken by a man and a woman who both have the same goal: going to buy a new pair of trousers in a Gap shop.

Sometimes classified in the humour category and often marred with unseemly comments, it deserves credit according to a lot of specialists (including Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women) for imitating a number of fundamental male-female differences, making it useful for studying marketing to women.

The act of purchasing and the decision-making process that accompanies it always take on complex forms and vary a lot from one person to the next.

However, a trend emerges when the purchase concerns either a woman or a man.

When a man is looking to buy some new trousers, he’ll opt for a product that will be a “good solution ” for him. Meanwhile, a woman will look for the “perfect answer”.

Posted on 25 June 2011 in Differences men and women, Reflections
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The changing rooms, the face-off between women and clothes.


The changing room is a pretty pointless place for men: most of the time, they already know what size they need in their favourite shops and buy without trying. This is unthinkable for women who try on 11 pairs of jeans, on average, before finding the pair that fits their body shape (Levi’s study). For a woman, the changing room is therefore a place that gives rise to a specific ritual, with an outcome that can be either enriching or demoralising.

She enters the changing room, hangs up her (potential) future purchases, carefully draws the curtain, and begins trying on the clothes. She then becomes distraught if she spills out of them, or delighted if they fit perfectly.

Every woman has gone through this inevitable experience when out clothes shopping. Yet, there are different “trying on” types, which don’t all have the same meaning for women.

Posted on 15 June 2011 in Women's behaviour, Fashion, Reflections, Sectors
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“Why She Buys,” a book that details the Female Economy


We have thoroughly reviewed this book, written by Bridget Brennan in 2009.

It gives a good overview of the marketing to women phenomenon, starting with the often-cited statistics about women’s increasing purchasing power and ability to take financial decisions for their families. Reminding marketers that they must imperatively target at least some of their advertising and product offer toward women, the book also gives guidelines for how to learn about women as a client base and which techniques are most effective.

To read the full review, continue onto the article.

Posted on 26 December 2010 in Women's behaviour, Reflections
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