Get Organized Pittsburgh

Have you ever considered the differences between men and women and their shopping habits? Or have you ever thought about how you acquire things in comparison how your husband, boy friend or father might? Well we are about to give you a little insight into how men and women shop in hopes that it helps you understand the differences between how Men Buy and Women Shop.

When shopping, women are more social and emotional about it their shopping trips. They circle around the experience with things like spraying perfume, trying items on, learning about the item, and engaging with the sales associate. On the other hand, men are on a mission. They want to get in and get out for that one needed item.

General marketing tactics reflect this and use this information to appeal to their target audience, Men or Women. Notice women’s stores are designed to draw the customer in they encourage them to spend time and relax there. They make the shopper experience it with things like perfume samples filling the air, music, chatty salespeople, many more amenities and information. Sometimes stores use sales techniques like friends and family promotions to make the experience more sharable. Women are known to be the gatherers, they want an educated sales person who is more exploratory and gets to know them and their needs. They want to be engaged.

Men’s stores are geared towards a more get in get out experience similar to primal hunting instincts. You’ll notice signage is different as well. Instead of images of people using items or modeling it like you might see in a women’s store, there are images of the product only. Men’s stores offer less variety, leading to more in and out efficiency similar to using an atm. A male shopper might complain about bad parking because he finds good parking to be more interesting. He’ll also prefers a sales associate who directs him to exactly what he is looking for and provides less interaction. A store might loose business from a male if something is out of stock because they are usually thinking of a short list of items they need. They are more likely to look elsewhere than waste their time looking for an alternative. If the same scenario would happen to a woman, she will branch out and find something else that is suitable.

Today woman are mostly the primary caregivers even though they are working outside the home more and more. Yet they are also the main shoppers, they have been groomed to be this way so they are naturally better at it. When tested on visual queuing like matching and differentiation of items, colors and patterns women are just stronger. Women have the ability to quickly count items or find small details that are inconsistent. They can also catalog things mentally better than men and those skills are needed to organize your brain to shop for items you and your family may need.

On the other hand, men are stronger spatially and have an easier time arranging things. They know they would like that complete set of drill bits and know they have the room so they rationalize the space for the items. They decide to complete the sets based on this ability to arrange. For men, it’s non-emotive. Women generally don’t think about where they will store the items they are purchasing, they attach a more emotional feeling to the items and instead they exclaim “I LOVE this sweater!” or “I love these dishes!” without fully thinking about where they will store them.

Men’s shopping ability and their interest in shopping has atrophied over the years and over generations because they haven’t been taught to be good shoppers. A personal example of this, my father never bought an item of clothing in his entire life, my mom bought him everything he wore and that was a generational thing for them, this continued on for my brother as well who is now a first generation shopper. These shoppers don’t trust themselves as shoppers they were not taught how to shop because they didn’t see their fathers do it.

I remember taking my brother to the Gap when he was probably a freshman in college, he went into the dressing room and tried on a pair of pants and when the sales associate asked how they fit and he said “well just stick your fingers in the waist and see.” He had no idea this wasn’t acceptable and the sales associate wasn’t going to assess fit like his mother had.

Reminder! Our very own Leslie McKee will be featured during Pittsburgh Today Live with Kristine Sorensen Monday, December 5th between 9 -10am. Leslie will be discussing over-shopping as it pertains to the holiday, how it effects you daily, and how to deal with it.

Look for tips on how to identify over-shopping habits and watch for information about how to gain control of your shopping habits.

WHY IS OVER-SHOPPING A PROBLEM?

• Our economic growth is dependent upon selling goods to people whose needs are already met!
• Studies show that the more we acquire after our basic needs are met, the less fulfilling those acquisitions are. Therefore the tendency is to buy more to get the same feeling.
• Studies show that the more someone believes material things bring true happiness, the more likely that person is to suffer from depression, stress and anxiety. College students report 70% feel being VERY wealthy will mean they will be happy. This sets the stage for widespread discontent.
• It is proven that too many choices leave us feeling befuddled and over stimulated yet- 5.8 % of US adults are over shoppers. That is 17 million people.
• 3 out of 5 Americans who carry credits cards carry credit card debt. One half owe more than 6,600 and 13% owe over 25k.
• Our country is reporting negative personal savings which happened in 1932,1933 during the great depression.

Sometimes being right does not add up to great results. Sometimes we get stuck doing things a certain way because at some point it seemed like the “right” way. As life changes our systems need to as well. Sometimes we get stuck in our old habits and don’t recognize that they are too complicated for our current life demands. If clipping news articles and sending them to friends seemed like a good idea years ago and now you are overwhelmed with papers and clipping it may be time to look at a new way to achieve that goal of sending info to other people. If someone has been fighting with you to make you try a new system-often that makes you hold onto the old system tighter. Especially if you at some point felt it was the “right” thing to do! When we start fighting for our “right stems” we become entrenched in that thinking and really “dig in”. Even when we see that the system is overloaded and not working well, it has now become a matter of principle above all else. Any rational alternative suggestion (like using the Internet) is shot down while you drown in being “right”.

If you notice that happening in your life. Be brave and take a baby step towards making changes. Those changes don’t mean that you are wrong, they simply mean that you have decided to try a new way. It is scary sometimes so surround yourself with people that are going to support your journey and not make you hold onto that old way of thinking.

The average projected number of corporate emails sent and received per person, per day: 142 in 2007, 156 in 2008, 177 in 2009, 199 in 2010, 228 in 2011. By 2009, workers are expecting to spend 41% of their time in email management.

Radicati Group, Palo Alto, 2007

How do we combat this trend?

SEND LESS
For every 5 emails you send, 3 will require a response! By eliminating just one email in five you can reduce your email by 12%. Since every email takes an average of two minutes to process, this one tip can save you hours if not days!

USE THE SUBJECT LINE-EOM!
Use descriptive subject lines even in a chain of emails. Use EOM for End Of Message in the subject line to let the reader delete without even opening. Specific subject lines help with retrieval later as well. You can even change subject lines on emails that you receive in Outlook by opening the email, highlighting the subject and saving!

AVOID THE TEMPTATION TO REPLY ALL OR CC EVERYONE ON THE PLANET!
Be careful with these tools. Although they they are useful, over use is annoying and you may end up on someone’s junk mail folder. You can always spot the “email beginner” because they are CCing, and forwarding everything in sight!

USE SHORTCUTS-NRN and NTN
Avoid getting caught in endless Thank Yous and Confirmations! Add NRN- No Response Necessary and NTN No Thanks Needed to your closing or in the subject line to avoid extra emails in your inbox! Your colleagues will appreciate it and do the same!

RESOLVE TO STOP RESPONDING IMMEDIATELY
Set your email alert to stop chiming or to chime every 30 or 60 minutes. This distraction cost anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes to get the average person back on track. Schedule time to respond to emails periodically throughout the day. If you have a blackberry avoid sending lots of partial replies, rather than a well thought out, complete response. Remember less is more!