Sometimes people get confused between equality of opportunity and equality. A quick glance at sporting world records will show that men and women are not equal.

Before I go further, I should warn you that this article deals in generalisations; it’s not suggesting any one individual has any particular trait.

It’s apparent from the work I do watching people shop that, in general, women find shopping a more pleasurable experience than men. In fact, I would say that they are probably better at it.

I believe both sexes are capable of finding the act of buying and owning gratifying, and that purchase can fulfil all sorts of psychological desires, but the act of shopping appears to me to suit more comfortably with women.

A recent paper by Daniel Kruger, who works at the University of Michigan, has looked into why, in evolutionary terms, men and women’s approach to shopping differs. His conclusions are very much in-line with my thoughts and observations.

Our long term division of roles (hunter/protecter and forager/mother) still echo into our behaviour as consumers today.

Men have to act in a focused way to hunt and then bring the catch back quickly; in much the same way that men like to be more goal-focused in their shopping. Hunting is not always about choice; it’s more a case of finding something that broadly fits the bill and grabbing it.

Women, as gatherers, are keen to explore the full range of possibilities open to them; they have an innate interest in looking around to see what’s available. This may explain why, when we go to France, my wife can derive pleasure from visiting the local supermarkets, whereas I can’t equate supermarkets and holidays in any shape or form.

Foraging is also a regular activity and works socially (and even with children present); hunting is much less suited to large numbers and sociability, and you wouldn’t take a baby hunting.

Exactly what aspect of our unconscious drives our preference for particular styles of activity, nor what causes us to perpetuate them through generations, isn’t clear.

But it can be helpful to recognise that the sexes can be operating from very different positions as consumers. This can help when decoding consumer behaviour and when selling.

Source: University of Michigan (2009, December 3). Male and female shopping strategies show evolution at work in the mall. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 7, 2011

Image courtesy: Panoramas