'Men Buy, Women Shop': The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down the Aisles

• Women think of shopping in an inter-personal, human fashion and men treat it as more instrumental. It's a job to get done.
• "Men Buy, Women Shop" also found that women are more likely to experience problems while shopping than men
• 53% vs. 48%, with women over age 40 reporting more problems than men in the same age group.
• "lack of help when needed" is the top problem (29%).
• It is also the likeliest reason that stores lose the business of women shoppers
• about 6% of all female shoppers could be lost to stores due to lack of sales help.

Male and female shoppers also have different reactions to sales associates. For men, an associate's interest in helping them find an item is most important, followed by the sales associate's effort in getting them through checkout quickly.

For women, store loyalty is related to sales associates' familiarity with the products in the store and an ability to determine what products best suit the customer. Women shoppers also value sales associates who make them feel important, according to the survey.

We all know men and women are different, right? It's pretty obvious, really. So it's not that studies defining some of these differences are necessarily surprising or particularly insightful. I think what we find especially amusing is when they demonstrate characteristics we've observed in our own experience.