Men Step Up to the Shopping Plate

A new survey discovers more than half of all men primarily do the family's grocery shopping.

January 19, 2011

BATAVIA, Ohio - Men are muscling out women on grocery shopping, Advertising Age reports. The Yahoo study with American males between the ages of 18 and 64 discovered that more than half say they are the primary grocery shoppers for their families.

Six in 10 fathers say they are the household decision maker for clothing, health, packaged goods and pet purchases. Part of that shift has been the Great Recession throwing millions of men out of work and into more household duties. But gender role changes also contributed, with Generation X and Millennials more willing to actively parent and participate in household chores.

Some analysts think those numbers are inflated by men??s own overestimation of their shopping habits. Behavioral shopping research puts the number of men doing the primary grocery shopping at 35 percent, said Mariana Sanchez, chief strategy officer for Publicis Groupe??s Saatchi & Saatchi X.

Shopper marketers are paying attention, with more initiatives striving for gender-neutrality, rather than targeting female shoppers specifically, said Sanchez. The Yahoo survey also found that men tend to be more loyal to brands and less receptive to promos.

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