Shopping orientations of US males: A generational cohort comparison

Male shoppers are recognized as an important and distinctive market segment. While initial steps to categorize and classify male shoppers have been taken, the majority of existing empirical research considers male shoppers as a single, homogeneous market segment. Recognizing that our understanding of male shoppers can be improved by identifying smaller, more homogeneous sub-segments, this exploratory study uses Generational Cohort Theory (GCT) as a framework to examine the shopping orientations of US men across four different generational cohorts: the Silent generation, the Baby Boomers, the 13th Generation, and the Millennials. The findings of this study support the use of GCT as a market segmentation tool for male shoppers and provide insight to help retailers understand how men in the four cohort groups approach shopping. Specifically, the findings suggest that male shoppers in the Millennial generation exhibit significantly higher levels of shopping enjoyment, recreational shopping tendency and market mavenism than males in the other generational cohorts.

► Men can be characterized as not particularly stimulated, but not bored with the shopping environment. ► Millenials are likely to enjoy shopping significantly more than counterparts in other cohort groups. ► Overall, men are also neutral in shopping enjoyment, recreational shopping and market mavenism. ► All four male generational cohorts are price conscious, frugal, and brand loyal. ► Overall, most US men appear to have a “get in and get out” mentality in terms of shopping.