Shop Like a Man

Paco Underhill is obviously showing how different men and women are when it comes to shopping. He shows many different examples in not only retail shopping but also in grocery stores too. He starts by pointing out that men don’t really like to shop or at least not in the way that women like to shop. “The conventional wisdom on male shoppers is that they don’t like to do it, which is why they don’t do much of it” (186). He points out that shopping is more geared towards women and this is one reason why women will like to do it more then men. “As a result, the entire shopping experience- from packaging design to advertising to merchandising to store designing and fixturing- is generally reared toward the female shopper” (186). Another difference that he pointed out was how women tend to walk around the store at a slower pace just kind of taking their time and men tend to get in and get out without much distraction. “[…] Men always move faster than women through a store’s aisles. Men spend less time looking, too” (187). I think that this is very true because women just get so overwhelmed by everything and they just want to look at everything and wish they had it. Where men don’t really care as much they just want to go find what they went in for and get out without buying anything unnecessary. He shows some of the differences especially when men go shopping for clothes. “In one study, we found that 65 percent of male shoppers who tried something on bought it, as opposed to 25 percent of female shoppers” (188). He justifies this by saying “[…] Men seem so anxious to get out of the store that they’ll say yes to almost anything” (188). I think that they will say yes not only because of this but also because they just don’t like to waste time. So if they try something they are probably going to buy it. They won’t waster their time just trying things on for fun like women do.

There were a few things that Underhill pointed out that businesses can do to try to cater to males too. I really liked the quote that he used to show how men don’t like to just take all day to shop and this is why women shouldn’t take men around with them because they will just get bored. “If I owned The Limited or Victoria’s Secret, I’d have a place where woman could check her husband- like a coat.” (192). “[…] I’d find a location right next to an emporium devoted to male desire […]” (192). Basically he is saying that if stores that women like are next stores that men like then men can go in their store while the women go in theirs. This way the man can stay occupied while the man shops keeping the women in their own store for longer so they can spend more money. He also says, “[…] More satisfying, strategy would be to find a way to get the man involved in shopping” (192). He gives the example of a glassware store. The men tend to stay away from the silverware and gravy dishes and they usually went to the drink glasses. “[…] He’s interested in all the accoutrements, all the tools of the bartender trade […]” (193). The men are attracted to this so the store noticed that and tried to cater to this liking by guys. “Something so that men would walk in and see that there was a section meant for them, somewhere they could shop” (193). Clearly stores have to market differently to women as they do to men to fit each of their shopping interests. They have to figure out which way will spark both male and female’s interest so they will both spend the maximum amount of money.