Research: Gender and Online Shopping

Just read an interesting article that is relevant to my interests.

This quote jumped out at me:

“In Asia, newly-wealthy women are discovering the enfranchising delights of discretionary shopping, and are approaching routine shopping as fun rather than duty.” Female purchasing decisions were particularly dominant in the skin care and cosmetics sectors, while men dominate all purchases of cigars and camcorders.

Do bear in mind the power of gender bias in your copywriting and your positioning. It’s extremely important for you to be persuasive to the right group of people using the right approach.

Notice the top 10 Consumer Product categories for women:

1. Skin care

2. Color cosmetics

3. Baby food

4. Depilatories

5. Hair care

6. Premium cosmetics

7. Fragrances

8. Medicated skin care

9. Baby care

10. Laundry care.

compare this with the top 10 for men:

1. cigars

2. camcorders

3. beer

4. men’s grooming

5. video games

6. spirits

7. wine

8. DVD/R

9. small electrical appliances

10. digital cameras

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The final analysis is simple: most of the buys are focused externally, but for the ladies, it’s skewed towards family and beauty. For the guys, it’s mainly personal consumption (men are pigs…) and entertainment.

This will definitely be interesting when you do your research to target specific market segments in your niche!