News

Men are shopping like women and that's good for retailers

The male consumer is scanning online sites to get fashion ideas, trying new brands and pretty much shopping like a woman, and that's all good for the retail industry.

February 25, 2016

Today's male retail consumer is much more like a female consumer and that bodes well for the retail segment.

Men are doing more impulse buying, spending more time browsing clothing racks and jumping on trends — behavior that's typically been the sanctum of the woman shopper.

The male shopper is also getting much more active in social media to stay up on clothing trends and seem to be taking advantage of retailers that have expanded prime merchandise inventory to include accessories and lifestyle devices.

Men are also more mobile when it comes to retail activity: Net-a-Porter reports one quarter of its traffic is males shopping using a mobile device, according to a Wall Street Journal report published at Yahoo. That figure is double compared to last year's figure.

Fellow retailer Club Monaco reveals male consumers are not only looking at clothing in its stores but checking out grooming devices and books and are taking more advantage of barbershop and coffees shop services that are available at some of the retailer's stores.

"We feel guys can have an environment that's exciting and enticing for them, instead of coming in and out and buying an item," said John Mehas, CEO, Club Monaco, told WSJ.

The WSJ report states a Euromonitor study projects premium men’s grooming products will fly off the shelves as fast as female products in the next few years.

"I do find more men who in the past might have been satisfied with basics to be more interested in and willing to try things they may have never considered before," Julie Rath, a men's style consultant and founder of NextLevelStyle.com, told the WSJ.