The Differences in XX and XY Shopper Marketing

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus - we get it. Men and women communicate in fundamentally different ways, however, now we need to start looking at how the different genders shop in different ways. In particular, men and women choose their retailers against differing criteria, which ultimately means that retailers must communicate to these audiences in two distinct manners. 

According to a recent Integer® and M/A/R/C® monthly shopper update, The Checkout, when choosing a retailer, women are 25% more likely than men to choose price and men are 15% more likely than women to choose convenience. Supporting this finding, the study reveals that women are 20% more likely than men to use manufacturer coupons and men are 13% more likely to use self-checkout. 

These findings point to two important insights. The first insight reveals that shopping communication to men should reinforce the ease and simplicity of shopping at a particular retailer or in category. For instance, the toiletry aisle should be well marked and effortless to shop, so they can easily find the products they need and move on quickly. In contrast, shopping communication to women should call out the quality of the retailer or category and reinforce the savings she could take advantage of. In this way, women are drawn to a particular category or retailer that has the highest=quality products for the best prices. 

Additional findings form the Integer and M/A/R/C monthly shopper updates will be posted here, on Shopper Culture, in the coming weeks.

-Contributed by Vanessa Munson