The Chicago Tribune* (2008) reports that the results from the 2007 holiday season show more differences between online male and female luxury shoppers. A survey of 1,300 "online luxury shoppers" found that men spent more and returned less when shopping online. Forrester research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru suggests that one of the main differences is that "men tend to value their time more." Mulpuru's report found that men returned less than 10% of online clothing purchases, while women returned more than 20%. Men spent $2,401 over the previous three months compared to $1,527 over three months for women.
I'd love to see the original research on this one, but Mulpuru's report is $279, and there's these jeans I've had my eye on... I kid. I try to keep in mind that they're selecting from a pretty specific group here, but the numbers tweak my brain a bit. Over $2,000 on clothing and accessories? In three months? I don't spend that much in three years! Yeesh.
I'm not surprised that the men who can afford to shop at this level value their time a lot: they probably get paid pretty well for it. Hell, even at my income level, I usually find returning clothing to be more trouble than the money is worth. Still, I really want to know about the brick-and-mortar store habits of the people in this survey. Were men spending more because they spent less in traditional stores? How many of the male shoppers were single vs. how many of the women shoppers? What percentage of the purchases were for themselves, and how many were gifts? I looked for more about the original survey, but I haven't found anything.
*Tribune content syndicated from WSJ (subscription), citing Forrester Research (paid content).
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7 comments:
I don't consider myself a "luxury shopper". But just this week I received a credit card report in the mail, listing all my transactions for 2007. They're totaled into handy categories. And from this bird's eye view, I must admit I fit right in with those test subjects, with almost $8000 in charges last year, of which about $1000 ended up getting returned. I'm female.
When you get down to the more granular level, though, the "retail" category that includes clothings and accessories, also includes books, home improvement supplies, tools, vehicle parts, techie items, etc. I'd have to get out my ten-key and subdivide the category a bit futher, I think. However, the returns are probably almost all mail order clothing. Which pushes me closer to that 20% rate they found for women.
So I guess the study does not seem that farfetched to me, the data matches my anecdotal experience. :)
So, do you return the clothes because they don't fit, because they don't look like they did online, because you changed your mind? Do you usually get refunds or store credit?
I don't think they had the survey respondents keep diaries, so I'm not sure how accurate their responses were. Actually, that's another concern of mine with the study: since this is a study of people who "value their time" more, how much response did they get, or what kind of incentive did they have to offer. How many more women than men answered?
For clothing, though, my reaction is that of course women return more than men do. There are no standard sizes. If I can fit into a small in one set of clothes and a large in another set of clothes -- plus the issues of fit on any given shape -- then it's just really hard to actually purchase clothes online which look good.
astrogeek01: Yeah, thanks for making the size point - I remember typing it, but maybe I cut it for length. They also *make* the same styles for men year after year. I remember a really frustrating thing when shopping for clothes as a woman was that if I wanted to simply replace something, I was going to have to find the closest match, because they weren't selling, say, medium-rise black jeans that year.
I'm the same anonymous who posted the first comment.
Dan4th asked why I returned things, and whether I got refunds or store credits. I usually return things because of fit, or for quality issues.
I usually return mail order items for refunds, because that's easier than getting store credits which I then have to keep track of and remember to use.
Dan4th, got any studies where they analyze clothing quality and compare men's to women's? There are big differences there. It's rare that I find things made for men that have the extremely poor construction that is common in women's clothing.
Anonymous said: "Dan4th, got any studies where they analyze clothing quality and compare men's to women's?"
Sorry, I still haven't been able to find this at all. Pants_of_doom has mentioned this several times, so I've been keeping an eye out for it. I'm afraid it may be too "apples and oranges". if you could find differences in apparel items made to the same purpose, maybe such a study would be possible. (like uniforms, maybe?)
One thing I've found, switching from shopping in the women's section to the men's section, is that it seems like the men's clothes are more expensive. This doesn't necessarily translate to quality, but I suspect there's a relationship between the differences in men's and women's requirements.
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