Gender Differences in Buyer Behaviour

It would be impossible to deny that men and women are very different. With comparisons regarding thought processes and differing attitudes and approaches to pretty much anything made up of atoms, I may struggle to stay on track. This is, after all, a blog about Understanding the Customer, not a review of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

Despite the thousands of publications, jokes and agony aunt questions, the differences between men and women are obvious and simple. This statement is supported by the way men and women are advertised to. When marketing, stereotyping is welcomed. Boys like girls, girls like shoes.

Marketing has a tendency to be dominated by male values due to the large proportion of men working within the industry. (Solomon et al, 2010) Although this is a well known fact, it is illogical as women do the majority of shopping for a household.

To introduce the difference in buyer behaviour with regard to men and women, please watch these two videos. The first shows what happens when men and women shop and the second explains why.

Interestingly, Global News discusses the similarity between the way men shop to the way they hunt, and they way women shop to the way they search for berries. (This point starts at 53 seconds.)

This suggests that the way each gender shops should be mirrored by the way they are marketed to. For example, men have a direct approach to shopping so an advertisement for a masculine product should be simple and direct. Personally, I think that ads act as a reminder for men to purchase a product. Like when they need shaving gel or more car polish.

 

Direct approach: "Come taste the Whopper!"

For women, ads are more of an encouragement. When I see an ad for soap, I don't go out and immediately buy it, however if I see an ad for soap with moisturiser and exfoliating beads in it, I may go and purchase it because it's better than my current soap. A man would not see the point in buying more soap when it is not necessary.

This image doesn't make me want to go out and buy mascara, it makes me want to buy that one because of all of its advantages. The text explains why this mascara is superior, highlighting the fact that women will shop around and look for better quality products. Advertising towards men is less likely to explain the product and have text in the advert, whereas women want to know more about their purchases.

 This introduces the concept of what makes up a gender specific advertisement.

	MEN	WOMEN
Point A	Linear	Curved Lines
Point B	Neutral Colours	Bright Colours
Point C	Focus on Product	Notice More Detail
Point D	More Likely to Pick Up Obvious Messages	More Like to Understand Complex Metaphors
Point E	Concise Language	Conversational Language
Point F	Humorous	Emotive

The following advertisements are examples of each point:

Point A:

 Note the 3 boxes, creating a distinct, linear appearance.

Clear use of wavy and curved lines.

Point B: For this point I am not showing specific ads, but the distinction of colour between male and female Google image ad searches. By searching "womens perfume ad" and "mens perfume ad", it is easy to see how use of colour differs.

Point C:

 The pint of Guiness is the main focus here, with limited text.

A lot of information is given using text and photographs.

Point D:

I am man. I eat met. Very simple.

Brings a foreign situation into London.

Point E:

Clear and straight to the point.

Chatty and conversational with TK Maxx's buyer.

Point F:

Cleverly getting the message through. (Personal favourite!)

Using nostalgia to sell a quality product.

Sex-typed and Androgynous Products

According to Solomon et al (2010), products are sex-typed or androgynous. Sex-typed defines a product that takes on masculine or feminine characteristics. Put simply, Barbies for girls and Hotwheels for boys.

Androgynous products are not gender specific, like vodka. Adverts for spirits tend to appeal to both sexes; they become sex-typed when promoting beer or cocktails. Note the differences in these ads… sex-typed or androgynous?

 

Knowing what kind of person makes up your target market, sex-typed or androgynous, makes appealing to their senses easier. Androgynous people tend to be adaptable and relaxed about society’s expectations of each gender whereas those who are sex-typed will show more allegiance to their culture’s views on gender roles.

These two adverts, for very similar products produced by the same brand, demonstrate differences in gender buying behaviour.

 

  

Primacy vs. Recency

It’s not just what is in the ad that grabs the attention of men and women, when the ad is seen also makes a huge difference.

During television ad breaks, do you remember the first one that ran or the last? If you’re going down an escalator on the London Underground, was it the first poster that stayed in your mind or the last? Odds are, if you’re a woman it was the first and if you’re a man it was the last. This is called primacy and recency. (Brunel and Nelson, 2003) Women are more likely to remember the first advert they noticed whereas as men will remember the last.

I’m trying to work out where I fit in in all of this. Am I sex-typed? Am I androgynous? My immediate reaction is “Yes, definitely sex-typed and feminine.” My bedroom houses more than 40 pairs of shoes and two wardrobes and a chest of drawers bursting with clothes and accessories. I have far more lotions and hair products than I will ever use. I own pretty much every minute of Sex and the City that was ever aired and my iPod matches my duvet cover.

Yet the BBC thinks I have a masculine brain. Not surprising, I must admit, as I can be painfully logical and am less sensitive than most of the men I know. Plus I’m pretty good at parking! ;-)

How does this relate to advertising? If I had more money, I would be a marketer’s dream. Brand conscious and materialistic, two characteristics marketers must love. But how are they targeting me? They are definitely manipulating my personality and self-concept. (And doing a great job.) I suppose it is fair to assume that your personality and self-concept rely heavily on what kind of consumer you are, sex-typed or androgynous. For me, I’m sticking with sex-typed and feminine… because I’ve never been inspired to buy Lynx or polish my hubcaps.

• Brunel F & Nelson M (2003) “message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion », Journal of Advertising, Vol 43, No. 3, September 2003
• Solomon, M. R., Bamossy, G.,Askegaard, S. and Hogg, M.K. (2010) Consumer behaviour:a European perspective. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson.