Food marketers taking notice in the rise of male shoppers
Women are known to be the decision makers in the home, which is why many advertisers cater ads for household goods toward them, but times are changing.
Food makers are revamping their packaging towards men in reaction to a growing trend that males are doing more grocery shopping and meal preparation, according to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal.
Companies such as General Mills and Kraft Foods redesigned their product packaging in hopes of attracting a new customer for products they might not normally buy, such as yogurt. They're selling larger portion sizes, using darker-schemed designs with red and black and also using words, such as "ultimate," for the product to appear more manly.
Apparently, many products in grocery stores don't appeal to men, the head of research at Innova Market Insights told the WSJ. "A beer or soda in a long-necked, brown bottle makes a man feel like a man. Drinking out of a straw does not—puckered lips and sunken cheeks are not a good guy look," she says.
A New Zealand dairy company created a brand for men's snacks under the product name of Mammoth Supply Co, with an image of a mammoth too. Some of the snacks under the brand include apple and blueberry yogurt, which is super thick, rum and cola ice cream and iced coffees, according to the New Zealand Herald. The label says, "This is men's yoghurt and you are a man. Now find a spoon, fork or spade and dig in."
A grocery store in New York created a "man aisle" stocked with "manly" essentials such as condoms, steak sauce, deodorant, razors, chips and beer, all in close proximity.
In 2010, 25 per cent of men were the main grocery shoppers in Canadian households, which has increased from 20 per cent in 2006, according to research by the NPD Group.
But it's not just grocery stores that are tuning into the male shopper. Men are garnering greater attention in the fashion industry where the market is expected to continue growing. While overall Canadian clothing sales dropped by 2 per cent to $22.9 billion in 2011, male apparel was up by three per cent, according to data from the NPD Group.
The men's grooming industry was deemed one of the fastest growing beauty segments. Men's toiletry sales are predicted to hit $3.2 billion by 2016, while the U.S. market hit $3 billion in 2012, according to research firm Mintel. Grooming regimes are already popular in Asia with South Korean men spending $495.5 million on skincare products in 2011, which accounted for 21 per cent of sales around the world, according to an article by the Associated Press. Just don't call the toiletries men use makeup, they might take it the wrong way.
There's also been a growing interest of from males in using services offered at salons, such as facials, body treatment or manicures and pedicures, according to Mintel.
As companies race to capture male consumers, first they need to understand how their shopping differs from their female counterparts. Once they crack that code, it'll open up a whole new ballgame.
How do your shopping habits differ from your partner?
Josephine Lim, MSN Money
Posted by: J | Oct 23, 2021 4:19:47 PM
Men are doing the grocery shopping more is because woman are now equal. Divorce rates are staggeringly high. Degeneracy is normal. It's a sign of the times. The gender roles have been screwed up because of feminism. Why would a man get married these days? It's high risk. The woman is always in favour during a divorce, custody of children, and so on. I'm better off with a wad of cash and a room of whores. Why? Because I know what type of fucking I'm going to get. Instead of the surprise fucking you don't want. I would love to be married, but I'm only doing that once and I believe it's until death do us part!
Posted by: superman | Oct 23, 2021 6:17:54 PM
men are hunter / gatherers, I hate the grocery store with a passion. Maybe if they carried more " limited edition " stuff I might enjoy it more.
Posted by: SP | Oct 25, 2021 6:11:48 AM
How do my shopping habits differ from my wife's?
A) I read the label to see how they're trying to scr3w me over this time (smaller contents for same price, lower quality ingredients for the same price, etc, etc, etc).
B) I know what I'm going to buy before I ever set foot in the store and leave only with what I intended to purchase.
C) My brand loyalty is as strong as the brand's loyalty is to the customer (namely 0). If I can get the same quality of product I don't care if it's got a brand name label on it.
Men do shop differently and companies are going to have to hire compent marketing staff instead of the 'pretty' but stupid university grads they're hiring now if they want the male segment.
Put another way:
Retailers are going to have to look at mens clothing manufacturers product innnovation / profit margins if they want to keep the male customers. They can't just put a pretty package on the same old crap, call it *new* and expect men to pay more for it like women do presently.
Then there's the issue of online shopping....