Influence of Gender on

Consumer Buying Behavior

By,
Vyapak Arora
MBA (Marketing & IB)
Division B
171
 Introduction
• Difference in Upbringing and Socialization
• Depict different behaviour at various
situations
Need
Recognition

Evaluation of
Alternatives

Post purchase
behavior
 Consumer Behaviour
• Study of when, why, how, and where people do
or do not buy a product

Influencing Factors

• Cultural
• Social
• Personal
• Psychological
How Buying Behavior Changed
Over Time

• Consumers of Pre-liberalization
phase-stable, inward looking, risk averse
and limited choices
• Consumers of Transient Phase-
Experienced multi-choices, risk takers ,
better off than parents
• New millennium Consumers-Enjoy life,
greater self control, exposure to products,
personal style and preference, etc
 How Gender Difference
Determines Buying Behaviour
• Women are considered as being warm,
expressive, compassionate, and
understanding.
• Approach problems with similar goals but
different consideration.
• Women are concerned about how problem
is solved-share and discuss the problem.
• For men solving a problem demonstrate
their competency-commitment to a
relationship.
 Reason Behind Gender
buyer Behaviour ?
Alternative methods-:
• Colours
• Themes
• Music

 For women, the promotions emphasised beauty and youth.

 For men it is upon value ambition and physical strength.
 Men tend to buy instrumental and leisure items.
 Women tend to buy symbolic and self expressive goods.
• Includes both the usual emphasis on beauty
and youth.
• By using an older women looking younger
adds to appeal of beauty and youth.
• It shows strength through the use of a healthy
looking model, who is muscular and young.
• The use of sea indicates health and strength.
• The blue colour appeal to the males.
 For women the main
implications are as
followed:
• Advertisements are often
more detailed.
• Women appreciated very
fine distinctions.
• Women like a
collaborative
conversational style
dialogue.
• Women preferred strong
colours and evocative
images.
• Girls prefer more
feminine qualities in an
advert such as soft music.
The main implications for a
male may include:

• Adverts usually focus on one

main object.
• Men usually pick up on one or
two very obvious kinds of cues.
• Men will need to be shown the big
picture as they think in a more
macro way.
• Men are less likely to process
complex metaphors.
• Men enjoy humour in adverts and
are usually more crude and
aggressive.
• Men find a 'chatty' style in adverts
annoying. They prefer hard data
and concise language.
• Men do not really respond to any
colours and images seem
irrelevant.
How Communication Strategy
Works?
Stereotypical Traits
MEN WOMEN

Brave, competitive, sensitive, gentle, caring and

aggressive, active and strong emotional

CONCEPT OF MASCULINITY AND FEMININITY

What sort of strategies do Brands adopt based on

Gender differences ?
 MEN BUY,WOMEN SHOP
For men, the process of shopping is a mission

-They love having bought something. They just don’t

like the process. It’s a subtle difference, but an
important one.”

The biggest misconception is that men don’t like

shopping

WOMEN-
"I love shopping even when I have a deadline"

MEN-
"We buy, and we leave…"
Feeling Important vs.
Checking Out
fast
• “Lack of help when needed” is the
top problem for women
• Women shoppers values sales
associates who make them feel
important
• Men value the sales associate’s effort in
getting them through checkout quickly
• Difficulty in finding parking close to the
store’s entrance is the top problem for
men
 Men and online

• The clutter and lack of control that causes many

men to shy away from a high street shopping
spree.

• Men are very vocal customers and will go to great

lengths to let us know whether they like
something or not.

• Women tend to shop more on impulse or because

it’s ‘in fashion’, men more out of necessity or
pure desire.
 Impact of Females in
Making a Buying Decision
• In the Indian Society it is assumed that the females of
the family play a pivotal role while any buying
decision is made.

• Women have a much stronger buying involvement

than men do, in terms of emotional involvement
whereas men were high on quality and efficiency.

• Women list more objects of sentimental value,

while men choose more items relating to leisure
and finances.

• Women generally make purchase decisions on a

more emotive/emotional level, whereas men go
more with the facts and data.

• "Men Buy, Women Shop"

 Factors affecting the buying
behavior of women
• Factor of time

• Long term consideration

• Influence of advertisements

• Post purchase experience

• Past regrets related to any purchase

 Men & Women
• Female customers:
– Mall exploring
– Opportunistic
– Selflessness

• Men hunt for meat, women hunt for

vegetables.

• Marketing overload:
– Traditional approach to purchasing decision
– Open sided
– Single brand approach
 Gender marketing

• Different Section of store for men & women

• Eg. Toys: Lego, Barbie
• 25% increase in sales
• Gender differences since 1970's
• Targeting a segment offers more lucrative profits
• Shape, texture, packaging, logos, verbiage,
graphics, sound, and names to define the gender
of a brand
 Gender Perception
• Women’s perception: “There is a pride in
the ability to be prudent and get the best
products for the best prices”

• Marketers empathize greatly by placing

selective deals to offer a sense of
accomplishment for women’s shopping
experience
 Buying behaviour
How do women & men look at opinions differently in a
buying pattern?

Most important factors:

– Men: Age, income & education

– Women: Family status & employment status
 Conclusion & suggestions

• Marketers need to understand gender based

tendencies in order to better satisfy the
customers.

• Concentrate on women of age group between

20–50 years on their marketing of house hold
goods.

• While marketing expensive/durable goods, male

segment needs to be targeted.
Thank You