Male shoppers adopt money-saving strategies: research

Men aren’t stereotypically “clueless” when it comes to grocery shopping, with their shopping behaviours similar to those of their female counterparts, according to the latest research from SymphonyIRI, a market researcher.

Findings its report “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus…Or maybe not?” found that during the recent recession, men adopted money-saving strategies, displaying their well thought out grocery purchases.

Other findings in the report include that male shoppers, while they are scaling back, are less inclined to do so compared to female shoppers. Research showed the 35 per cent of men shop at multiple stores to find the lowest prices, and 35 per cent purchase only needed items rather than stocking up to keep weekly budgets in check. Men also like coupons, with four out of 10 indicating that the availability of coupons heavily impacts brand decisions.

Surprisingly, itemized lists are more prevalent among men than women, with nearly two-thirds making shopping lists before entering a grocery store. Fifty-six per cent of men listed categories to buy (such as coffee, frozen pizza, toothpaste), with 16 per cent listing specific brands to buy.

The research findings came from an Internet survey of more than 2,200 shoppers from SymphonyIRI’s consumer network panel in January 2011.