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Roughly half of all customers experienced problems during their most recent shopping experience, according to "Men Buy, Women Shop," a study looking at gender differences in the retail shopping experience. Women are more likely to experience problems than men, especially women over the age of 40, according to the annual study, now in its fourth year.
Other interesting findings, reported in the study by the Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; the Verde Group, a leading customer dissatisfaction consulting firm; and Women Certified, a consumer advocacy resource that empowers women to make better buying decisions:
- Men are nearly 20 percent less likely to recommend a store where they experienced problems than women. - Among the top problems that female shoppers experience, "lack of help when needed" is the number one problem (29 percent) and is more likely to lead to lost business. About 6 percent of all female shoppers are likely lost as a result of this problem. - Men list "difficulty in finding parking close to the store’s entrance" as the number one problem (also at 29 percent). - The problem that is most likely to lead to lost business for men is when a product is out of stock (5 percent of all male shoppers are likely lost as a result of this problem). - Men and women are most satisfied with the sales associate’s willingness to let them shop or browse at their own pace. At least 77 percent report being very satisfied with this attribute - Almost half (47 percent) of women shoppers say they will not return to a store because "store employees acted like shoppers were intruding on their time or their own conversations."
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