Gender Differences in Online-consumption in Russia (On Example of Electronics and Clothing Markets)

<p>Internet-shopping (or e-shopping) is emerging as a shopping mode and with its requirement of computer access and use; it is interesting to find out whether there are any gender-prescribed differences in online shopping preferences and behavior. These differences may be associated with gender-specific stereotypes. Such stereotypes may be expected because shopping is considered a &quot;female typed&quot; activity whereas technology is considered to be in the male domain. On the contrary, it might be, that the Internet is becoming a melting pot and there are no differences in online-shopping behavior between men and women. In this project, I address this central question in an empirical study that varies the shopping context in terms of product type, purchase purpose and shopping preferences. The respondents are male and female consumers with the Internet access and familiarity with online shopping.</p><p>So it is not evident who is main online-shopper: man or woman, if there is any difference between them. And if there is one, where it lies. Thus, the problem can be formulated as the following: <em>a contradiction between gender roles in internet-consumption. </em></p><p>The research will be based on the data, which was gathered during a quantitative survey on cross-border e-retail in Russia by Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology of the Higher School of Economics. The data allows to answer all the research questions and to compare males and females online-shopping orientations. Two surveys were carried out: the first one represents online-shoppers in electronics segment (334 respondents), the other one represents online-shoppers in clothing and footwear segment (313 respondents). &nbsp;</p><p>Accordind to results of the study there are differences in internet-consumption process, but they are not as explicit and huge as they are usually &nbsp;presented. So existing differences in consumption do not originate from male and female nature, and are of structural nature and closely linked to women&#39;s status in society.</p>