Is Shopping for Polo Shirts Genetic?

Thursday 09th of February 2012 09:49:26 PM

Is Shopping for Polo Shirts Genetic?

Debenhams commissioned a study on the shopping habits and genes after learning that girl baby clothes are selling at a 20 percent faster rate than baby boy clothing. Girls have more clothes than boys at the ripe young age of four. This prompted Debenhams to investigate whether it is nature or nurture that promotes shopping differences between men and women. In other words, do women shop for clothes like polo shirts, t-shirts, dresses and other clothes because it’s genetic or habit?

This isn’t such an unusual study as might be thought at first glance. The popular couple David and Victoria Beckham just had a little girl, and dad spoke for many men when he said he is scared his whole house is about to turn pink. The theory is that women instill in little girls a desire to shop for clothes whether by design or inadvertently. So the question Debenhams wanted to find an answer to is whether women have a “shopping gene” or are they simply taught to shop from a young age. Women do the majority of clothes shopping in all households so this is an important marketing question for clothing retailers.

A study results were interpreted by a British psychologist, Dr. Karen J. Pine, who works for the University of Hertfordshire. She was quoted as saying, "Human society puts a great deal of emphasis on female appearance and this will inevitably result in more clothes being purchased for girls than boys. Parents encourage the importance of clothes through leisure activities such as shopping and play that involves dressing up. Whilst Dads are taking their sons out for football matches, women are taking their little girls shopping and encouraging them to take more of an interest in fashion. However in the animal world this pattern reverses, for example, in lions, ducks and peacocks, it's the males who have more adornments, and the females who are plain.”

So what does this mean? Debenhams’ study seems to indicate that mums nurture shopping in little girls but not in boys. They do this by buying more girl clothes than boy clothes and taking little girls shopping with them. This nurturing is then passed from generation to generation.

The question now is whether the next time you’re buying t-shirts for your children, will you be thinking: I need to teach my little girl how to shop for the highest quality inexpensive clothes online? Shopping times are changing! Debenhams just may need to do a new survey as online sales grow.<© Image by Patrycja Rumas-Stepien, www.sxc.hu/