Lure the Male Housekeeper

According to Monday’s New York Times, a dynamic behind the decision of toymaker Mattel, Inc. to introduce a Barbie construction set is an assumption that fathers are doing a considerable amount of purchasing for the family. Therefore, retailers should carry for both genders of children items which men would find attractive. The fathers are then more likely to stop to look at the items in your store, and after purchase, they’re more likely to be pleased because they’ll join their daughters in using the items.
     Mattel’s assumption about shopper gender trends is correct, at least in the U.S. and when it comes to toys. The chain of logic behind the changes is reflected in an analysis conducted at University of New Hampshire: During the U.S. economic downturn, husbands were more likely to lose their jobs than were wives, and then husbands encountered more difficulty than wives in finding employment.
     As a result, a higher percentage of wives than in the past found it necessary, in order to pay the bills, to enter the labor force or to expand their work hours. They’d prefer to be home more with family, but that’s not feasible.
     The consequences do go beyond the merchandising of toys. The NYT article reports that Procter & Gamble is providing to retailers planograms for men’s grooming aisles, realizing both that it’s now somewhat less likely women will be picking out the shaving cream and that men and women have different shopping styles.
     Women are more likely to find emotional comfort from shopping than are men. Put this together with the fact that the wives going to work yearn for time with family. When the wife does do the shopping, she might want to bring hubby along.
     A set of cross-national studies by researchers at University of Chicago and Belgium’s Catholic Universities of Louvain and Mons concluded that the relative dominance of husband and wife depends on the type of product or service being considered when the couple shop together:

• Husband-dominant: Lawn mowers, hardware 
• Wife-dominant: Children’s clothing, women’s clothing, groceries, toiletries 
• Shared dominance: Cars, refrigerators, televisions, living room furniture, financial planning services, vacations 

     Even with shared dominance, decision making styles differ. While making the decision, the man’s objectives are underpinned by a desire to ensure his individual specifications are met, while the woman’s objectives are underpinned by a desire to have the shared specifications of the couple met.

Click below for more: 
Recalibrate for Shopper Gender Trends 
Build on Couples’ Decision-Making Rituals 
Stem the Tide of Female Shopper Discomfort 
Discontinue Dichotomies If Continuums Fit