Women's Shopping: The Art of Finding the Right Bargain - Essay Sample

Introduction

The common perception is that women take more extended time considering their shopping and purchases as compared to men. Often men prefer entering the store, searching for a specific item they want to purchase, pick it and leave as quick as possible. However, often, this leads to expensive purchases. On the other hand, women take their time, indulge in selective comparisons, check for offers, and make their selection after a long process of "utmost satisfaction." Thus, the prevailing view is that the two differ in all characteristics while inside a store. The field observation will seek to question specific differences in characteristic features between men and women while shopping in a store.

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Research Problem/Question

The common belief is that women and men behave differently while shopping in a store. At the same time, it is held that men and women differ in their actions, rationales, motives, and perspectives. The observation seeks to present a wide variation clarifying the difference between men and women shopping in a store. The primary hypothesis is women tend to take much time in the store as compared to men who take a shorter time. The second hypothesis is women take much time assessing an item before purchasing as compared to their male counterparts who go straight to the item, pick, pay and get out of the store. The main variables to observe were how much time the shoppers took inside the store, how much time a shopper took in analyzing an item, how much a shopper paid for a specific item, and a general shoppers attitude towards the shopping experience in whole.

Key Variables

The amount of time taken by a shopper while inside the store will denote to the amount of time, in hours spent inside the store. The amount of time a shopper took in analyzing an item will signify to the amount of time in hours while assessing an item before putting it back on the shelf or the total amount of time used in analyzing and putting it on the shopping basket. How much a shopper paid for an item will refer to the total cost of the item/product purchased at the store. Finally, the shopper's attitude will refer to their general approach to the shopping experience, either more positive or less positive. During the observation, I will be an observer as well as a shopper as this will enable me to take note of the above variables accurately. The variables will be explored by cross-tabulation with male records on one column and female records on another column.

Hypothesis

During this second round of observation, I expect to observe women optimistic and more positive in their attitude as they enter and make their purchases. On the other hand, I expect men to be less positive towards the experience. I also expect women to spend more, buy more items and spend longer in the store. I expect men to spend less time and buy a few things. The second observation comes one week after the first observation in the mall. The only difference will be, I will focus on one specific store within the mall where men and women purchase different items that range from grocery to electronics.

Patterns of Behavior

The central purpose of the observation and study was to explore the significant differences in gender in shopping behaviour and attitude. From the observations, it is evident that women are more positive while shopping as compared to men. Women purchase more items and take much of their time assessing and evaluating the items before purchase. They take twice as much time as men. Although men spend less time, they also use a significantly higher amount of purchase.

In comparison to the hypothesis, it is evident that women approach shopping with a positive attitude as compared to men. They also take much of their time analyzing and assessing their needs before purchasing. On the amount of money spent, although men buy few items, they spend as much as women who buy more items at a single shopping.

Observation of the Location and the People

Just as in my first observation, the building was the high-end type of Malls, frequented by the well-to-do people and families. The building was stylish, constructed using the latest modern technologies from the magnificent walls to the bright coloured marbles. The paintings and art originated from some of the best architectural companies around the world. The stores' restaurants, barber shops, hypermarkets all pointed to targeting the rich. The place was simply magnificent. The shoppers fitted exactly with their ideal environment, with their dressing style ranging from simple to exotic and unique. It was a blend of class, style, and glamour. The shoppers ranged from young children accompanying their parents to adults as old as 90 years on wheelchairs. However, women outnumbered men.

Sociological Explanations

According to symbolic interactionism, women attach more meaning to their actions than men do; for example, women take much of their time considering an item before purchase as compared to men (Agoben, 2017). On the other hand, functionalists theory allege that gender differences in behaviour are critical and necessary for societal integration. For example, keen interest in what they purchase is attributed to their specialization in caring and managing homes as such they have to take much of their time in anything they engage in that is meant for the family or self. It explains why women pay more attention to a product's brand as compared to men who focus on product focused. According to the theory of planned action, how strong an individual tries in engaging in an activity and the control the individual has over the action remain very significant in whether the individual participates in the act (Agoben, 2017). Thus the behavioural tendency is enacted and results from numerous aspects. It shows why women take much of their time assessing an item as compared to men who take a short time. Men do not indulge in complex and numerous attitudes towards their behaviour a clear explanation of why they take a short time in a store. According to DeLamater, Collett and Myers (2014) feminist theories explain that women connect at an emotional level.

On the other hand, men have little interest in the emotional connection. It thus explains why women take much of their time shopping as they try to connect to products at an emotional level before making a purchase. Men, on the other hand, tend to be abstract and put little emphasis on mutual or emotional connection.

Deductive and Inductive Observation/Comparison of Thoughts and Feelings

My deductive observation focused on a general perspective to a specific view. On the other hand, inductive observation entailed moving from a precise observation to a broader concept. There was a significant difference in the observation with numerous gender differences in the behaviours of the shoppers. According to DeLamater et al., (2014) deductive observation paid close attention to specific actions by the two genders, such as the amount of time each took analyzing an item before purchasing. On the other hand, inductive observation focused on the general concept of shopping between men and women. I realized I had to change my observation to pick out and note small behavioural aspects that I initially paid little attention. At the same time, by the use of deductive observation, I focused more on specific attributes as compared to the blanket strategy I employed in inductive observation. Due to the particular nature of deductive observation, I preferred it instead of the inductive observation. It gave me a specific framework to connect the various theories and concepts I have learned so far. I felt more at ease but deeply engaged in the second observation as compared to the first observation.

References

Agoben, T. T. (2017). Unearthing the Reasons Behind Human Behaviour in Society: A Reappraisal of the Theories in Sociological Behaviourism. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3142068

DeLamater, J. D., Collett, J. L., & Myers, D. J. (2014). Social Psychology (Vol. 8th ed). New York: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=nlebk&AN=828243&site=ehost-live&scope=