How Do Men & Women Shop For Clothes Differently?

By Author: Vikram Sharma
Total Articles: 162
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There are numerous stereotypes regarding the differences in men's and women's shopping habits. Women, for example, buy more items than men.

Women are more likely than men to shop for clothes online.

Women are more likely to spend time in the store comparing prices, whereas men are more likely to settle for the first functional item like cotton lungi that meets their needs.

But what does the data say?

Women Purchase Apparel More Frequently

Women are far more likely than men to have purchased clothing (men's or women's) in the previous year. For example, compared to men, 80 percent of women purchased undergarments or nightwear (the most popular clothing category for both men and women). This trend was easily discernible; women were at least nine percentage points more likely than men to purchase an item in every category except accessories. Women's higher purchasing rates are due in part to the fact that they frequently buy clothing for men and children.

Accessories are an intriguing anomaly, as the two genders had similar purchasing ...
... rates (32 percent of women to 30 percent of men). Women can accessorize their outfits with a wide range of non-clothing items (such as jewelry, hair bands, and purses), whereas men are limited to clothing accessories such as hats, gloves, and neckwear. Women's purchases of these non-clothing accessories compete with their purchases of clothing accessories, lowering purchasing rates of women's clothing accessories to levels comparable to men's.

Men Edge Out Women When Using Online Retail Channels

Overall, both sexes use different shopping methods at comparable rates. Off-price stores, on the other hand, are a notable exception; 34 percent of women purchased apparel from an off-price store, compared to 25 percent of men. Furthermore, men were more likely than women to use a brand's website as a website for handloom lungi or south Indian white lungi (22 percent to 16 percent). Both sexes used internet-only stores at comparable rates (39 percent for men, 38 percent for women; the percentages fall within the margin of error of the survey).

Women are More Engaged in Apparel Purchasing than Men

Women shoppers, in particular, are more engaged than men shoppers on all three of the following measures:

"Price" was an important factor for 70% of female shoppers versus 55% of male shoppers.

67 percent of female shoppers thought "Fits well" was important when purchasing clothing, compared to 56 percent of male shoppers.

60 percent of female shoppers considered "Looks good" clothing to be important, while only 47 percent of male shoppers did.

While women are more engaged shoppers, both genders believed that the most important factors when purchasing clothing were price, a good fit, and an appealing product (though the order in which these factors ranked differed by gender). As a result, when it comes to clothing, both sexes place equal value on the same three basic factors.

Conclusion

So, how did conventional wisdom fare?
Women spend more money on clothing than men do: True.
Women are far more likely than men to buy clothing in almost every category.

Women are more likely than men to shop for clothes online: False.
The data refute the notion that women are more likely to shop online; both genders use online retail to purchase clothing at comparable rates, and men are more likely to use a brand website.

Women are more likely to compare prices and shop around: Most likely true.

According to the data, women are more engaged in clothing shopping than men, which supports the notion that women are more likely to hunt for the perfect piece of clothing, whereas men will leave a store with the first workable item like cotton vests. Men's refusal to shop around coincidentally contributes to the trend of men spending more on clothing.

People, on average, take the time to research purchasing decisions that are important to them. Women are more likely than men to spend time deliberating over potential purchases because clothes shopping is more important to women. When it comes to clothing, both sexes want the same thing: something that fits well and looks good at a reasonable price.