[Air-l] buying socks online

[Bunz, Ulla K]

"If this website had been like, about shopping, at least, it would have been
about something important."

This is a direct quote from one of my subjects from the usability research
I've been conducting this fall. And yes, the subject was female, and no, she
was not the only one to voice similar opinions. 

I don't know if there is research on demographic groups' (gender, age,
cultural background, etc.) attitudes toward shopping in general. I assume
there must be, and I'd be interested in hearing about it. 

Some of the Pew research and other research has shown that women and men do
not do the same things online.
Women:
- seek health information
- seek religious information
- research jobs/employment
- seek travel information
- play games

Men: 
- seek news information 
- purchase items (AKA shopping)
- seek financial information/stock trading
- participate in auctions (AKA shopping)
- access government websites
- seek sports news/information

Now, the study David is quoting shows a shift in this use, a shift showing
women outdo men in online shopping now. Whether that's good or not, it's
certainly not a bad thing. I assume that much of this shift also simply
derives from Christmas shopping traditionally being the mother's
responsibility. So, maybe we should see if this trend holds up after
Christmas before we draw conclusions.

Also, David's subject line (buying socks online) brings up an excellent
point. What is it that these women and men are buying online? And, can we
rank online purchases as to their "seriousness?" And who would define those
criteria? Some kind of Intellectual Internet Elite? That alone is
problematic, I think.

So, finally, to David's question: "Does the quote suggest that women are
thinking of the Internet in a more serious way *because* they use it to
shop?" 

IF the quote implied that all women think of ALL shopping as serious, and IF
the quote implied that they ONLY think of the Internet as a valuable tool
BECAUSE you can shop there, and IF this only applied to women (and to ALL of
them at that), and not to men, THEN I'd think it very problematic.

However, maybe this one single, reported on trend is just one of many
indicators that women are a) using the Internet more, and b) are thinking of
the Internet in a positive way, assessing it useful in a variety of ways?

More comments?
Ulla Bunz