Internet Shopping

Internet shopping is the latest mode of shopping in which access to computer and knowledge about the use of computer is required. It is very interesting to find out about the specific gender type that is using internet as the most commonly used mode of shopping. Different shopping behaviors are expected from different genders because shopping is mainly thought as an activity loved by females while males are thought to be mentally declined towards technology. This paper provides information about the use of internet shopping by different genders. It is also described that males and females have different perceptions of shopping about different types of products.

It is expected that as men feel more comfortable with computers and internet and they have more knowledge about the use of internet and computers, it seems more likely that more and more males will be dominating in the internet shopping. But the consumer role has been associated with females for such as long time. Females have been responsible for the shopping of their household goods, so it cannot be said that the chances of the growth of internet shopping are associated with males only.

Internet shopping is increasing day by day as consumers are becoming familiar and comfortable with the use of internet. Many researches have been done to find out the interest of males and females in internet shopping. Different researches have shown different results. According to Donthu and Garcia (1999), there is no difference of gender among the offline and online shoppers. People Support had performed a survey and found out that women constitute the two-thirds of online shoppers (Nua Internet Surverys, 2000). Where as researched done by ebates.com had suggested that men are primarily involved in the online shopping and they constitute about 71 % of the total shoppers. Women shop more than males only when they purchases products related to health and apparel (Are you an online window shopper-Or an actual buyer? 2000) The same result is obtained by Unilever that suggested that men are mostly found online shoppers as compared to females (Women online: Statistics on likes, dislikes from Unilever, 2001).

It was developed in the industrial