How stable are shopping styles of women and men across cultures? To find out, the
authors develop a new scale that reliably measures differences between male and
female shopping styles and is stable across cultures. They develop a conceptual model
and hypotheses to test whether observed differences in gender shopping styles are
likely to be innate or arise from socialization. Through a survey of consumers in seven
countries, they show that males and females are evolutionary predisposed to have
different shopping styles. Counter to social structural theory, the observed differences
in shopping style between females and males are greater in low-context cultures
(higher gender equality countries) than in high-context cultures (lower gender equality
countries). Empathizing—the ability to tune into another person’s thoughts and
feelings—mediates shopping style more for female shoppers; systemizing—the
degree to which an individual possesses spatial skills—mediates shopping style more
for male shoppers. Therefore, retail segmentation between females and males appears
to be of more managerial relevance than segmentation between cultures. Other
managerial implications are also discussed.