Men and women differ has been a controversial issue in
many years.Many scientists are concerned that
perceived differences have led to discrimination and unfair treatment under the
assumption that one gender has attributes the other does not (Lewis, 2015). Men and women differ in many aspects
such as perspective, motives, rationales, and actions (Gray, 1992). These
differences distinguish the character of both men and women in shopping.
Shopping is the activity of going to shop or store and buying things (oxford
dictionary, 2011). It is generally known that shopping is indicated by women.
When it is time to shop, women come first in people’s mind. Thus, men are
considered as not good shopper than women. However, this idea is absurd because
it only consist one-sided idea. Men are better than women in shopping because
they have some characteristics that support them being a good shopper. Firm,
independent, and well-prepared are their characteristics that support them to
become good shoppers and break the norm of women are more highly competent in
shopping than men. Therefore, we should not underestimate men as unskillful
shoppers and considerate men to become shopping companion instead of
girlfriends.
Men are firm. They shop when they know what they really need (unknown,
2014). For example, in a survey held by
GoGirl! Magazine indicated that mostly men that they were being observed, they
buy things that they really need and want with mostly gadget in their top lists
(unknown, 2014). Different with men,
women get easily attracted by discounts or even fascinating things and cute
stuff such as, hair accessories. Second, men are independent, they tend to shop
by themselves and avoid shopping with companion. The reason is they want to
focus on things they really buy. It can be proven from the research that men
only can think and focus on one thing because men have a thinner corpus
callosum (Lewis, 2015). Corpus callosum is the bridge of nerve tissue that
connect the left and the right side of the brain (Lewis, 2015). Men
predominantly use their left side of their brain for this purpose, leads them
to only can focus and solve one problem (Lewis, 2015). Next is, men are
well-prepared. They search the latest information and issue about the things
they want to buy (unknown, 2014). Instead of wandering around stores to stores
or malls to malls to know the information from their things they want to buy,
men likely to browse information from the internet (unknown, 2014) since the
internet provide everything from the old issue up to the latest issue.
By knowing the things they really want to buy, men are prevented to
waste time by wandering around from stores to stores or even malls to malls. In
a comment written by the user named Quora user, he commented that he treat
stores everything but grocery shopping like a
surgicalstrike mission-in
and out as quickly as possible to prevent
him being distracted (Quora, 2014). Next, by shopping alone without being
accompanied by fellas, they are prevented to be bothered by lots of advices
given by their fellas. In some cases, where men go shopping with their
girlfriend, their girlfriends will tend to wander around the stores, looking
for all the items that provided in there. Start from the open gate turn left,
in and out from every single line, give advices, “I do not think this is good
for you”, up forward, in and out from every single line, give advice, “ I do
not think this is good for you”, then go right, in and out from every single
line, give advice, “ I do not think this is good for you”,up forward, in and
out from every single line, and go back from the start they start.Real example
taken from the writer’s parent, when it is time to buy shoes for the writer’s
father along with the writer’s mother, it will take a whole night in order to
buy a pair of shoes for my father because my mother will look for herself too.
The last is by searching information about the things men want to buy; they
will be prevented in having deception and loss. Men are paradoxically to search
and compare product online (Lewis, 2015). By searching thoroughly about the
things they want to buy, they will know the specific of the things (unknown,
2014). Therefore, when it is time to buy the things, they will not easily get
tricked by the seller (unknown, 2014) and they know where the trusted stores
are (unknown, 2014).
If men are prevented in wasting time, they can do others activities such
as pursuing their hobbies, for instance. And men hobbies are likely sports.
Sport is the purest embodiment of things guys love-competition, prowess, aggression,
combat, winning (Wente, 2014). Thus, shopping will only take a blink of eye for
men (Lewis, 2015). In getting things they needs or speeding the process than to
spend time hunting down bargains (Lewis, 2015). Since they are not bothered by others’
advices they will get things what they want, what they expect, and they will be
prevented in having fight with others because of having different arguments.
Regarding the independent of men, Jim Foster,
marketing consultant and retail coach, “Men generally shop alone. Men seldom
compare prices. Men don’t care if the item is on sale. Men really don’t care about
the color. Men sometimes compare quality, but usually only when it involves
tools.” Stores catering to men understand these tendencies and focus marketing
on inventory depth, technical features, and efficient payment processes (Lewis, 2015). Since they are prevented in having
deception and loss, they will not have psychological illness such as depressed
and stress. Depressed and stress can cause men to loss interest in pleasurable
activity, fatigue, changes in appetite, sleep disturbance, and apathy. Since
depressed and stress in men are rarely recognized, so prevented in having
deception and loss in men can brings good impacts to men.
People may say that men are not good in shopping and women are better
than men in shopping. However, the argument is absurd. It only contains
one-sided opinion. Women are taking longer to make a buying decision (Lewis,
2015) which means they are not straightforward and tend to take a long time so
that, they are not efficient. Women are also perfectionist-in negative way.
They would rather to continue shop in a hope of finding a perfect solution
(Lewis, 2015) which makes them wasting the great opportunity the first the
find. On the other hand, men are more efficient and straightforward. They know
and understand first how the product is used, who uses it, which features are
necessary, and what offered at different price points (Lewis, 2015). Regarding
those facts and arguments, we should considerate men as good shoppers and a
companion when shopping.
In conclusion, people may think that men are it good in shopping rather
than women. However, their opinion is only one-sided and far from clear. Men
are wiser than women in shopping. They are firm since they know what they need
and buy they need. They are well-prepared because they search information
thoroughly about the products they want to buy. In addition, they are also independent;
they would rather to shop alone rather than to being accompanied when shopping
to prevent being bothered with many advices from their fellas.
Chory Trisa Yuanilasari/130222614304
Argumentative [academic]
References:
·
Unknown. 2014. Go!Girl Magazine. PT. AprilisMaju Media.
·
http://www.moneycrashers.com/men-vs-women-shopping-habits-buying-decisions/
taken on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 12:44:47 PM
·
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevefaktor/2012/10/23/three-ways-to-reinvent-shopping-for-mens-clothing/ taken on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:45:01
·
http://www.performics.com/surprising-shopping-study-results-men-engage-more-frequently-than-women-in-five-of-six-online-social-shopping/ taken on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:45:15
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