Infographic on shopping habits of women

Golden

That is very interesting indeed!

Disha

Ok, Now I can add what surprised me the most - that according to their research a large % of women do their shopping via mobile devices. Just seemed surprising to me!

11 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

What bothers me about this is that they aren't defining household incomes and the 'fashionable woman' category is really vague. For example, the average expenses on outfit items? Seems higher than what the median American household could spend as far as I'm aware. However I think they might be lumping infrequent purchases - like wedding rings, in there. It's possible that big expenses/just looking at a subset of the shopping population skew this of course.

I know Nordstrom's target shopper makes over 100k in gross household income, which means roughly 20% of the US population would fall into that category. This is not a lot of people proportionally.

11 years ago

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Totally don't fit in anywhere. Plus hello, I spend way more on shoes than jewelry.

11 years ago

Diana

Veteran

Huh, yeah, Rabbit, I think you must be right. I wear my wedding band and diamond engagement ring day, so does that count? And I only have three watches, but I wear one of the three every day. So yeah, if you count those three items, my "outfit" would suggest I'm way richer than I am. But I own a lot more shoes than wedding bands!

I don't fit in anywhere either.

11 years ago

Mo

(website)

Veteran

My 'mobile' device couldn't shop if I wanted it to. Barely takes pics LOL. But I'm not surprised I don't fit in - I rarely do in these homogeneous round ups. And that's okay with me!

Wait, I do fit in with the wine sippers.

11 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I too thought the average outfit cost was way too high - until I saw that over half of it was jewelry, which if you include wedding and engagement rings I would definitely believe.

I browse a lot on my phone, and on my tablet, but I almost never buy on either - I go to the computer for that since I find logging in, making sure the security of sites is ok, etc., much easier there.

11 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

I was going to agree with Anna about the cost of the average outfit -- as in, what do you mean, $75 for shoes and $500-something for jewellery?? But then I remembered about wedding rings. If the makers of that infographic are doing averages, and they're throwing in the cost of a diamond ring that many married women wear, that'll sure skew the average. I wonder if they counted wedding jewellery as part of a person's outfit? I certainly don't. And yet my diamond wedding ring is by far the most expensive single item on my body at any given time. (But in terms of cost per wear, it's pennies, I'm sure).

That's why these graphs are of limited value. They are misleading.

ETA just read some other comments. I see I'm not the only one who's skeptical about the wedding rings!

11 years ago

jennifer

Veteran

I don't think I'll ever spend that much on mascara even in my whole lifetime!
I also think that the digital surgeons people may be thinking people shop somewhere based on older notions of a store . The store's story vibe can and often does change over time . One store may originally focused on a mature ,older comfort driven client( 40-70)it may change to a clubbing ,rocker- chic youth driven demographic( teens- thirtyish) the next year and the pendulum may only swing halfway between the two the year after.

11 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

I wonder if they are also looking at 'retail full price' rather than factoring in what is actually spent with sales/discounts/resellers. I know when I've done consumer surveys that's all they are interested in, the full original retail price. Hmm...

I fit what is spend on tights if they are counting 'actual paid price', that's about it

11 years ago

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

My average outfits would probably cost more than $1,300 at retail prices, but man, I sure didn't pay that!

Today, I wore my Burberry trench (gift), a dotty blouse ($15, retailed $45) and a used Anthro skirt ($10, retailed $125). My tights ($2, retailed $7) and boots ($200, retailed $560). My purse was $200 (retail $500). My watch ($35, retail $110).

I don't think I fit in any of the categories too, because I buy lots of things on sale and uber clearance - and get a lot of things second hand

11 years ago

Jewell

Veteran

Fun infographic- Thanks for sharing! Like everyone else, I wonder about some of these numbers. But I, for one, do make occasional purchases on my phone and I'd probably make more if there were more mobile-friendly retailers. I have apps for Zappos, Amazon, eBay, Target, and others on my mobile device. It's funny how many of my clothing items match the averages given. My handbags tend to cost more and my shoes less, but an average is just that- an average. As far as fitting into a category, I'm a Frugal Fashion Enthusiast: a frugal fashionista, fashion maven, and shopping enthusiast all wrapped up in one

11 years ago

T

Active Member

My accessories are generally more expensive than my outfits (watch, silver earrings, gold /diamond ring etc) - but I don't think I wear fashion / clothes worth so much as in the infographic. In fact I think I spend considerably less in all of the categories listed. Of course, that could be because I do fall in both frugal fashionista & shopping enthusiast category and hence tend to buy thrift/sale/discount almost 70% of the time!

11 years ago

anne

Veteran

I think I am contradictorily somewhere between frugal fashinista and necessity shopper. I do often change my shoes at work!

11 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Well, they're averages so that flattens and skews things, but I guess im really out of the ordinary. I shop all over the place and not with my phone...

11 years ago

JayS

Veteran

Ugh..I just can't get over 42 being an "older woman".

11 years ago

Erikajl

Active Member

Interesting infographic. Just wondering how many women they polled to get these numbers. Surprised at how many shop by mobile device.

11 years ago

Liz A.

Veteran

Well, I'm closer to 33 than 28, but I guess I fit better in the Shopping Enthusiast category.

I don't think I've ever purchased clothing with my phone, but if they're counting iPads in these numbers, that changes everything!

The one thing I do do is when I'm out shopping, I use my Amazon app to scan the barcode and see if an item is available for cheaper online. Amazon Prime makes my life!

11 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

This is just fantastic and interesting. Thank you so much for posting it !

I was SHOCKED by the average total of the outfit. Then I thought," Wow, my wedding ring makes that soooo true. "

I am actually saddened by the amount spent on clothes and make up over a lifetime......

I don't fit in anywhere either. One must also keep in mind that this seems to be some sort of assessment on digital shopping too. And that also really sharpens the demographic. This is definitely not a general, total population assessment. It just doesn't fit.

11 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

I'm with JayS -- 42 is an "older woman"???
Not to rant, but this infographic earns itself a place in the 'Science-y-ness' file.

11 years ago

Disha

Active Member

I agree with everyone!
As a data person, it is one of my pet peeves when companies don't post their data. Who did they poll?
But, interesting none the less!

11 years ago

Helena

Veteran

Well, I am definitely a basics-buyer, although I DO care whether I look nice in my basics!! And I'm not 34 anymore!

11 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

I think they have to be including wedding jewelry in the jewelry total. Not sure how the "average" person could be wear $552 of jewelry otherwise!

And I do have my Movodo watch, which is down to less than $3 per wear.

Interesting but spurious

11 years ago

LoriFLA

Active Member

This is interesting. I am definitely a Basic Buyer. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that.

11 years ago

leopardluxe

Veteran

I'm always skeptical of these breakdowns as they tend to be very homogenized and generalized. As someone who has worked in both marketing AND data analytics (among other areas) the way the data is interpreted is often skewed to tell what story you want it to. I laughed back when I was leading the team at Zappos and the marketing folks brought in a 3rd party agency to determine who out target market/core demographic was. The "marketing persona" was so generic as to be completely useless --and I jokingly told my team that they now had to listen to everything I told them to do because, according to this data, I AM the target demographic and therefore everything had to tailored to suit me. (Ha!)

I do think it's interesting how they broke down cost of average outfit. I'm sure it included one time purchases like wedding/engagement rings (this coming from someone who has an extensive collection of jewelry because I was in the biz but not longer wear has or wears a wedding or engagement ring).

I think it could be interesting to track my own cost of outfit for a period of time to get a sense of average cost. Since I'm sure I have outfits that cost me a total of less than $50 (including jewelry) and ones that probably cost me a total of thousands. So it would be interesting to get a sense of the averages. Does anyone else do that to get a better sense of their average cost?

11 years ago

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