Personally I like online shopping mainly because it’s easy, fast and convenient, you can shop when you want to anywhere you want to. There’s a gender gap in online shopping. More men than women engage in online shopping and make online purchases while in the offline world women love to shop.
Until recent very few studies were done on gender differences in online shopping and gender differences in online shopping attitude. From recent research we learn that online shopping is not as attractive or appealing to women as it is towards men. Women have more positive attitude towards conventional shopping than online shopping. Men’s attitude doesn’t differ between online of conventional shopping.
On the cognitive level which is the most important in the attitude of women towards online shopping, women still are skeptical towards online shopping, they tend to fear risks and threats associated with online shopping.
Thus, businesses aiming to attract more female online consumers need to focus their efforts on increasing females’ awareness of the benefits associated with online shopping.
On the affective level women don’t like online shopping due to the lack of social interaction. This could be improved by supplying chat possibilities, forums or other forms of sharing experiences. Website design is also more important for women. It should show unity and fun to play with.
Differences between men and women in shopping online and offline:
- Men usually have more favorable perceptions of the website design, security, e-loyalty, website trust, website satisfaction than women in online shopping.
- Men spend more time and money on online purchases
- Men’s attitude towards shopping is much the same to offline shopping while women’s attitude change substantially and like online shopping far less than offline shopping.
- Women prefer physical evaluation of products more than men which is not possible for online purchases
- Products for online purchases are more associated with men such as electronics, computers. Women tend to buy food, home decor and clothing and shoes which is far less available for online purchase
- For women the social part of shopping is lacking with online shopping, no face to face contact or social interaction is possible with online shopping
- Men prefer convenience over social interaction
Sounds very plausible to me, what do you think?
Hasan, B. (2010). Exploring gender differences in online shopping attitude Computers in Human Behavior DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.12.012
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Also I wouldn’t buy any item of clothing without first having actually worn it to check it fits, and looks OK, whereas guys I know will frequently buy things without even trying them on at the shop.
I agree with Lab Rat, I prefer trying things on before purchasing. Sizing on men’s clothing is a lot more uniform than with women’s. Men can order pants, for example, based on the inseam and waist length and know that they will fit. Women look at the sizing chart, order the size they think will fit based on it only to find out that it wasn’t accurate. This is even worse on department store websites, where the sizing chart is supposed to represent a number of different brands and labels, each of which has their own sizing system.
If a store wants me to start buying clothing online they need to have a very good returns policy. I suggest basing it off of Zappos’ “free shipping both ways” policy. I will never hesitate to buy shoes from Zappos because I know that if they don’t fit I can return them without hassle.
Personally, as a woman, I buy almost all my clothes via internet. There are very good internet shops and you mostly can return items for free if they don’t fit. I go to the real shop when I buy stuff for my husband and sons…
Shoes are far less available for online purchase? There are shoes, shoes and more shoes online. It’s a shoe-lovers paradise!
When I go shoe shopping, I always go with my good friend, J. We go to different websites, look at shoes together, pick out shoes for each other, give advice, etc…just as though we were at a convential store. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun without J.
I agree that the social part of shopping is important, but I disagree that no social interaction is possible with online shopping.
You’re one of the few women I know that buy clothes online but than everything fits and looks good on you
Take care Dr Shock
Good suggestion, but how do ypou two communicate? Chat?
Kind regards Dr Shock
Dr. Shock…
We chat mostly because it’s easy to send links to each other and we can each create our perfect shopping environment. So I can listen to Korn at a deafening volume while browsing the sandal department without driving J to tears
LOL, pretty harmless indeed. Will suggest it to Mrs Shock who is crazy about shoes, take care dr shock
My husband has long joked that I have a male gene for shopping. I infinitely much prefer to find what I want, pay for it, and have that be that, without it being a social thing. I much, much, prefer shopping on the internet. Clothes-wise I largely know my sizes, and know where I buy clothes from, so I can just get two new pairs of jeans without having to deal with the mall, the people, and the noise. I can read reviews of books.
Of course, I am also on the autism spectrum and have an orthopedic issue, so that might slightly weight my preferences. (grin)
Sorry – can’t argue – just dropped.
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