Retail: Female Shoppers Are Hard To Please

Among 820 consumers surveyed by feedback company, Fizzback, results found that men are more likely to give positive feedback on a service, product or retail experience than women, and score at least three percent higher than women on an overall ‘satisfaction rating’, taken after going shopping.

Indeed, when it comes to enjoying the shopping experience as a whole, the survey claims females fair worse. On average, men come away feeling more satisfied following a bout of retail therapy than women.

The analysis was done by measuring feedback and satisfaction levels from men and women after a retail experience. Because the feedback was given ‘in situ’, ie at the point of experience, the findings are accurate, according to Rob Keve, CEO of Fizzback. “These findings prove what we may have always known – that men and women have fundamentally different attitudes towards retail,” he said.

“Men are much more likely to go into a shop, get what they need and come away feeling as though they’ve done a good job. Women expect more from the retail experience, and will notice things like poor customer service, unhelpful staff or below-standard products, and give a more negative rating accordingly. Because men expect less – in as much as they tend to see shopping as a necessity rather than a pleasure – they are perhaps more likely to give a positive rating for the limited amount of good service they did receive, rather than penalising the shop for not giving them the excellent service they felt they should have received.”

The survey also found that customer service from retail staff elicited the highest levels of response – both positive and negative – among both sexes, showing that we value service above all else in the retail experience. The things most likely to generate negative feedback about staff were: availability (63.7%), attitude (16.5%), knowledge (10.1%), efficiency (6.7%) and pushiness (three percent).

Mr Keve said, “It is clear that we value good service and helpful staff. Focusing on these things can really help a retailer to differentiate themselves in a tough market. Both men and women appreciate good service – but women are more likely to give negative feedback on a bad experience. But by making it easy for both men and women to give feedback, shops can make a real difference to the retail experience.”