THE GROCERY SHOPPER – IS HE DIFFERENT?

As more men adopt the role of grocery shopper, the potential grows for positioning a supermarket chain against the male shopper. Anecdotal evidence and previous research suggested differences between male and female shoppers over the time taken to shop. A study is presented where male and female shoppers were timed while shopping in a branch of Safeway. When just the time taken to shop is considered, the male sample spent significantly less time than the female sample. But, when the rate of shopping, expressed in expenditure per minute or items per minute was compared, women seemed to shop faster than men. However, when the samples were matched for the total volume of shopping purchased, no significant difference could be found between the sexes. It could be argued from the survey and previous work that men are less involved in the shopping process. Some ideas are presented to enable retailers to target the male shopper.