According to Forbes, women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing decisions. There are many reasons for this, including one fascinating suggestion that it’s because our brains have a thicker corpus callosum. I’ll leave this speculation aside, because the question that I’m interested in pursuing is how to get more men to shop in our stores.

The simple answer, and one that gets immediately deep in gender stereotypes, is to carry merchandise that men want. It is generally assumed that many men are interested in sports, beer drinking, cars, or outdoor activities. While this may or may not be true, there are obvious categories like men’s clothing and masculine toiletries that are specifically made for men. 

But what about the store layout, displays and marketing messages? An online blog called Money Crashers suggests that “men like to get in, get what they need, and get out fast. Men aren’t major comparison shoppers and they’re willing to pay a little more to speed up the process than to spend time hunting down bargains.”

The article goes on to mention that men are less likely than women to be price sensitive, and to use coupons. They may appreciate shelf talkers or packaging with the details they need to know about a product. According to author Michael Lewis, they often don’t enjoy browsing, and want their purchase process to be efficient.

Aimee Millwood offered these generalizations about “mansumers”:

• Men don’t shop, they buy
• Men want to know before they purchase
• Men like mobile
• Men want purchasing to be easy

Can her tips help you increase your percentage of male shoppers?  After all, they make up 50% of your customer base!

Happy retailing, 

Carol “Orange” Schroeder