Online Shopping Trends: Men vs. Women

05/30/12 Posted by Instabill

Image by Rick Obrien via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

There's no denying that women love to shop. When it comes to buying in-store, the stereotypes are entirely accurate. Male credit card users most often make purchases at gas stations, auto repair shops and auto parts stores, restaurants, and bars. Female credit card users most often make purchases at grocery stores, pharmacies, and clothing stores (come on, women don't call it retail therapy for nothing!).

Online Trends for Men and Women

But how do men and women compare online? This may come as bit of a surprise, but men spend more money than women in online shopping. It makes perfect sense if you break it down.

While the online shopping trends for women are clothes, shoes, handbags, and jewelry, it doesn't fulfill their shopping appetite. For many women, shopping is an emotional experience. They need to search for the perfect dress, pick it up off of the rack, try it on, get approval from their other female shopping companions, and talk with the cashier as she asks if they found everything OK.

Men couldn't care less. When it comes to buying clothes, most men are all about speed. They're in--they're out. Oh, this shirt looks nice, and it's in my size so I know it'll fit.

According to CNBC, 19 million affluent (wealthy) men spend more than $4,000 a year in online shopping. They also outspend females by nearly 30%, and most of their purchases are for themselves. The top two online buying trends for men are luxury menswear, like Louis Vuitton, and accessories, like Rolex watches. Men are also more likely to buy in bulk when shopping online.

New Business Outlooks

So, if you're looking to start a new, profitable e-commerce business, you should definitely consider becoming an online clothing merchant. Style trends may constantly change, but men and women will always need to buy clothes. If you're a online clothing merchant looking for a credit card processing solution, contact us today for a merchant account application.

Posted in Company News Tags: credit card, men, online, online shopping, trends, women