Internet shopping
is the latest mode of shopping in which access
to computer and knowledge about the use of computer
is required. It is very interesting to find out
about the specific gender type that is using internet
as the most commonly used mode of shopping. Different
shopping behaviors are expected from different
genders because shopping is mainly thought as
an activity loved by females while males are thought
to be mentally declined towards technology. This
paper provides information about the use of internet
shopping by different genders. It is also described
that males and females have different perceptions
of shopping about different types of products.
It is expected that as men feel more comfortable
with computers and internet and they have more
knowledge about the use of internet and computers,
it seems more likely that more and more males
will be dominating in the internet shopping. But
the consumer role has been associated with females
for such as long time. Females have been responsible
for the shopping of their household goods, so
it cannot be said that the chances of the growth
of internet shopping are associated with males
only.
Internet shopping is increasing day by day as
consumers are becoming familiar and comfortable
with the use of internet. Many researches have
been done to find out the interest of males and
females in internet shopping. Different researches
have shown different results. According to Donthu
and Garcia (1999), there is no difference of gender
among the offline and online shoppers. People
Support had performed a survey and found out that
women constitute the two-thirds of online shoppers
(Nua Internet Surverys, 2000). Where as researched
done by ebates.com had suggested that men are
primarily involved in the online shopping and
they constitute about 71 % of the total shoppers.
Women shop more than males only when they purchases
products related to health and apparel (Are you
an online window shopper-Or an actual buyer? 2000)
The same result is obtained by Unilever that suggested
that men are mostly found online shoppers as compared
to females (Women online: Statistics on likes,
dislikes from Unilever, 2001).
It was developed in the industrial and post-industrial
economies that females are the consumers that
are located in the home that is the private domain
and males are the producers that are located in
the workplace that is the public domain. (Firat
& Dholakia, 1998, p. 17). That is why females
are considered as the primary shopper (Dholakia,
1999). Women are found to be involved in the more
than 80 % of the decisions that are related to
purchasing (Nua Internet Survey, 1999).
Different researches have been done to find out
the enactment of the consumer roles by men and
women. It is found from research that mostly men
like to shop online where as women want to do
online shopping but they buy offline (What kind
of Dot-shopper are you? 2000). It is also found
that a female is associated with a hypothetical
shopper as compared to a male. It is suggested
that little change is found for accepting the
gender specialization in the role of consumers.
There are some contextual variables on which
gender stereotypes are dependent. Product type
is particularly very important. Females are found
to be associated more with the purchase of less
expensive and less technical items such as a music
CD where as males are associated with the purchase
of more expensive and technical goods such as
DVD players.
Female buyers are considered as less spontaneous,
less technical and more reliable where as males
buyers are considered as more spontaneous, more
technical and less reliable.
|