Secrets of the Male Shopper

Submitted to Prof. Ted Clark

Submitted by Mert Kaygusuz

People buy things considering their lifestyles, that means their psychographic
values which define an individual`s purchasing decisions. Today`s marketers use
psychographic properties in order to facilitate the segmentation process. Gender roles
also have a great impact in understanding these lifestyles. To understand the male gender
role that had been targeted less than the female gender role by the marketers in the past;
in this essay, I will try to summarize the key points of an interesting article of the
magazine “Business Week”: Secrets of the Male Shopper.

In the early days of the consumption society, men were considered as “simple
creatures” that only purchase goods and services for their basic needs. That “period of
darkness” ended when marketers realized that men could also have specific demands due
to their lifestyles. The different types of male roles can be mentioned such as:

- The Maturiteen: They are known as the male teen who like to shop and who are
interested in technology as well.
- The Modern Man: This group includes people who are in their 20s and 30s.
They like to buy products for their personal care, but still there is a distinctive side
in their lifestyle which does not support a big amount of “metrosexuality’.
- The Dad: This group can be seen as a “very classic bunch of people”, but as they
are in the peak of their earning years; capturing them is a great opportunity for
marketers
- Retrosexuals: They can be defined as traditional male figure who are happy with
their current life and who reject the feminine side of the male gender role.
- Metrosexuals: Opposite of the retrosexuals, they are very interested in their self
care, style, appearance etc. Shopping is not only a necessity, but also an
experience that consists of deeper meanings.
 For marketers, composing these kinds of different elements is a useful way
of market segmentation; because societies do not only have black and white
colors, but also grey tones. The main reson of a reasonable company is to improve
its profits with effective and efficient business strategies. As a result; if marketers
want to reach that purpose, they have to diversify their portfolio of customer
profiles, so that they can create better solutions for specific needs.