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Women Buy More Tech Than Men
Computerguy5 writes "According to a Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) study, released at this past Consumer Electronics Show (CES), women accounted for $55 billion of the $96 billion dollar market. 40 percent of women surveyed responded that they were treated better when accompanied by a man. CNN reports on the findings."
That's due to a fundamental difference between men's and women's attitude to money.
A man will spend $2 on a $1 item because he needs it.
A woman will spend $1 on a $2 item she doesn't need because it's on sale.
(Not my gag, but I don't know the source)
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
I don't buy a ton of tech stuff - but I have it. Gifts, building my own stuff, whatever. My fiancee buys a lot, though - laptop, PDA, camera, etc.
Her sister walked into Best Buy and despite my specific instructions, let the salesguy talk her into a much worse digital camera for $100 more. On another occasion, she was talked into a TV tuner card and a "special cable" that she couldn't use without an additional upgrade from her old video card... I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up buying Mac software for her Windows XP box.
It's not just tech, either - lots of women are conned at car dealerships or other sales places. Even if she's smart - she's probably too trusting.
This might be a surprise to those here but sometimes girls will buy stuff for guys.
A guy who buys a girl an electronic gift is being "insensitive".
A girl who buys a guy an electronic gift is a total babe.
So maybe all that extra spending is just gifts.
Does that mean that 60 percent were treated better when they weren't accompanied by a man?
Theoretically, there would be three options, not two: being treated better, worse, and the same. Of course, since the other two options (better and the same) could be viewed as either neutral or better, that means that no matter how the breakdown works, the odds are STILL in favor of a woman NOT taking a man along, which directly invalidates what the article is trying to quietly suggest: that women are better off being accompanied by a man when making a tech purchase.
Some other questionable "factoids":
Meaning what, exactly? How much are they involved EXCLUSIVELY in? What are they buying? Who are they buying for?
Radio Shack's customers have shifted from 20 percent female seven years ago to 40 percent female today.
Has Radio Shack's marketing changed? Has it's product changed? Locations?
Every time you go to these places, they think women don't know anything, and they don't tell you the same features as they would when my husband goes with me.
That doesn't hold with the marketing complaint from earlier. Are they targetting something they feel will appeal more to the demographic? What, specifically, are they saying?
I don't usually even bother reading anything like this, especially studies, when they're in major news organizations. There's never any context provided to suggest the data has any validity or, worse, any meaning what-so-ever. People never question the fact that the numbers don't mean anything beyond what the writer is suggesting (typically, suggesting without any REAL evidence), so they keep doing it. CNN: The New American Tabloid.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
My whole life is computers. I have been taking apart/breaking/tinkering with/programming computers since my father brought home a Commodore 64 all those years ago. It pisses me off to no end when some slick haired little sales moron assumes I know less about computers than my boyfriend, who doesn't even understand why he needs to keep up on the latest XP patches and wondered why his computer kept rebooting after leaving it on his school's network without patches or a firewall.
I finally got fed up years ago when, while browsing laptops, some sly salesguy looking for his commission paid more attention to the guy I was with, who was about to run over to the console games section and had no interest in computers, than me, the potential sale. He instead pointed me to the dayglo ibooks and wouldn't answer any of my questions, all while chatting it up with my friend about processors. I made it very clear to his manager that I was very ready to make a pretty large purchase at his store, but since his salespeople weren't willing to give me the time of day I'd be taking my business elsewhere. About a week later I faxed the store a copy of my invoice for a $3000 custom job, plus oodles of accessories and software. I got an apology and a ~$10 gift certificate about a month later. I gave the card to my dad and optioned not to return.