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."

Yeah, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but those electronics usually involve the settings: Slow, Medium, and Fast! :D

no surprise...

[Anonymous Coward]

Men earn money, women spend it.

If I didn't have a woman to remind me, I wouldn't even remember to buy food!

Well, duh!

[TopShelf]

Men use duct tape, thus extending the life of certain pieces of equipment that thus don't require replacing...

Unbelievable

[Simon Garlick]

I'm sure that there must be SOME link between the headline and the article... but I'm buggered if I can see what it is.

that tells me

[gnudutch]

that tells me that the men are finding the better deals.

ok ??

[Billly Gates]

In other news woman talk about their feelings more then men and men watch more football then woman.

Oh and the sky is blue. News at 11.

Re:You guys laugh, but this doesn't surprise me

[Limburgher]

I've seen this, in fact I used to work at a CompUSA in IL. This lady bought a CDR labeling kit, and a bunch of labels, like 35 bucks. . .so she could write on the labels with a Sharpie and press them on, rather than, oh, I dunno, writing on the CDR itself with said sharpie.

Dumbass. Then again, her husband bought the Jaguar upgrade. . . for his WinXP laptop. . .

Oooh Shiny!

[Quirk]

"...that they were treated better when accompanied by a man.

Tech salespeople would rather sell to a man than a woman because women don't go all glassy eyed and impressionable around bright, shiny things.

Re:Well, duh!

[Anonymous Coward]

you'd never catch me putting duct tape on my certain piece of equipment

Now every geek is thinking...

[Anonymous Coward]

One more reason to start looking for a girl friend, and pretty soooooon too...

Re:Tom Peters is right!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but it does require an exceedingly small penis.

Equal Opportunity

[buddydawgofdavis]

Nearly three-quarters of women surveyed by the industry group complained about being ignored, patronized or offended by sales people when shopping for electronics.

At least the sales staff a Fry's Electronics don't discriminate; they'll ignore you reguardless of your gender :)

bitch make me a sandwich.

[Malicious]

This just proves that geeks have their women whipped.

Hon, can you go to the shop and pick me up *insert gadget/techno babble here*

Re:Yeah, but...

[gricholson75]

Yeah, but those electronics usually involve the settings: Slow, Medium, and Fast! :D
except for the Elvis edition, it's settings are:
Love me tender, Don't be cruel, and Jailhouse rock.

Re:no surprise...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod -1:Chauvanistic

Re:Radio Shack data is wrong.

[brian woolstrum]

Radio Shack???? Oh, yeah the Sprint Cell Phone store
now I remember.

Who let them out of the kitchen?

[micahmicahmicah]

I actually know quite a few gadget girls. But I've yet to find one who could link up their GP32 with mine.

Re:Well, duh!

[kfg]

On the other hand men will throw out a brand new shirt because "it broke."

i.e., a button fell off.

KFG

Re:It can be frustrating...

[be-fan]

She probably was wondering what the hell this "Rumbus RAM" was, since the box listed "Rambus RAM" and concluded tahat you didn't have the foggiest clue what you were talking about :)

Re:Oooh Shiny!

[JediTrainer]

women don't go all glassy eyed and impressionable around bright, shiny things.

You've never seen a woman near a jewellery store or something?

Re:that tells me

[Garridan]

Or, that women desire to have a different iBook for everything in their wardrobe...

Re:bitch make me a sandwich.

[Daengbo]

That's why you have to train them: I suggest the electronic collar with remote.


Relax! It's a joke...

Re:Radio Shack data is wrong.

[rootofevil]

i refuse to believe you.

i walk by radio shack often. and i never see ANYBODY in there.

Re:Well, duh!

[jawtheshark]

No. Men will recycle that said shirt as a rag to clean their hands on if they have been working on the engine of their car. Nothing goes to waste with a man. ;-)

At least it is better than a woman that buys a pair of shoes and never wears it because the colour really doesn't go with any of her clothes. Of course, she might just look for clothes that go with the shoes, but don't count on it. Oh, and she will categorically refuse to throw the shoes away (or give them to charity).

Re:Equal Opportunity

[fufighter]

as an employee of Fry's Electronics I have nothing but one thing to say... your absolutely correct! hey, I dont care, I work in the back moving boxes around.

Re:Yeah, but...

[val1s]

in related new men buy more flowers than women...

Well, maybe...

[lurker412]

Statistics show that 94.52% of all surveys that do not give details on sample size and sampling methods are bogus. Trust me.

Male vs. Female Responses

[Jonathan Quince]

Sometimes it's difficult to refrain from telling them to kiss my ass.

A man wouldn't refrain.

There's your problem.

(Of course, if you want to be extra manly, pop 'em one in the jaw for insulting a lady. It is, after all, the chivalrous course of action in when faced with such discourtesy.)

Re:Well, duh!

[kfg]

Oh sure, if it's a flannel shirt he'll use it as an oil rag (unless he just wraps a strip of duct tape around his chest to keep it closed), but not a dress shirt, or even an Oxford.

They make really lousy oil rags. Trust me. I know. I've. . .

Ummmmm, ok, maybe he would try to use it as an oil rag the, first time.

KFG

Re:Tom Peters is right!

[chunkwhite86]

"Management Guru" Tom Peters said this and is right. Yet,... product design continues to be male-driven. Many electronic products are designed like F250 trucks instead of light SUVs. This makes them female-hostile (and often hostile for people with smaller hands etc).

There are exceptions to this. Products that are sleek, sexy, and work great. Apple iPod and iBook, for example.

But your are right about most things. The PS2 looks like something out of a Terminator movie, as do most l33t g4m3r computer cases. Even the ubiquitous TI-83 calculator has an industrial look to it.

I think male design teams are afraid to use a woman's perspective in their designs, for fear of their product looking like a hello kitty dildo or something.

Re:Well, duh!

[kfg]

. . . big bond fire...

Ah, you bought some of those too?

KFG

Re:Oooh Shiny!

[gct]

That is, of course, unless the bright, shiny thing is a particular carbon molecule contained in a blue Tiffany's box...

Re:Equal Opportunity

[sirsex]

(i>but you must have some friend who work on the floor

No, from the service I am pretty sure no one works on the floor at all.

No, I'm New Here

[New Here]

No, I'm New Here

Re:Equal Opportunity

[Guppy06]

"Nearly three-quarters of women surveyed by the industry group complained about being ignored, patronized or offended by sales people when shopping for electronics."

Payback's a bitch, ain't it?

Re:Sexism ahoy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop with the 'go make me a sammich, beyotch!' jokes. They're an insult to men and women alike.

Yup. Everyone knows it's pronounced, "byatch!"

Re:My own personal experience...

[Spoing]

1. 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.

Pah! That has little to do with women vs. men. Most of the advice I give to anyone is ignored...even when I'm asked for opinions first.

The conversion now goes something like this;

1. Them: "Should I get a Widget?"

2. Me: "What are you planning on doing?"

   Them: "No, seriously, should I get a Widget?"

   Me: "Well, if you are asking you're probably planning on getting one. If you're planning on getting one, you have probably already picked one out."

   Them: "There's this one..."

   Me: "Buy it."

   Them: "I'm asking for your opinion."

   Me: "Do you really want my opinion?"

   Them: "Yes."

   Me: "No, you want someone to tell you to buy something you've already chosen. Since you won't listen to me -- nobody does -- why not just buy what you wanted to in the first place?"

   Them: "Well, I wouldn't ask if I didn't want your opinion. I don't know a thing about Widgets, and you do!"

   (Long Q & A on what they are looking for and suggestions on what are the better choices.)

   Me: "OK, from what you said and what I know about the Wankel Widget Mark III you're looking at...I suggest you wait 6 months and ask me again. No matter what, though, that Wankel Widget is a waste of time and money. The Bolox Widget ZX is 1/4 the price and does about the same thing...though even that's a waste of money right now. Sorry."

   Them: "B-but...the Wankel Widget is so cool looking. It does everything."

   Me: "You asked my opinion, and from what you've said, it's not only useless but a waste of your time and money. Wait 6 months and things might improve."

   Them: "You know...I think I am going to get the Widget."

   Me: "See, I told you nobody listens to me. Go buy it."

   Them: "Hmmmmm...." (They go buy it and tell me in a few months that it was an 'OK' or 'poor' choice.)

Re:You guys laugh, but this doesn't surprise me

[TheLoneDanger]

I think of my own reasoning for buying videogames. I bought the console so I could play the games. Now I have to buy many games to justify spending the money on the console. In some cases, I've bought the games before I had the console. I also have to buy DVDs to justify spending money on multimedia equipment.

That probably gets women as mystified as I was when a female friend said that I could/should buy a pair of shoes if I bought a few less DVDs. Me: But I've got shoes. I'm wearing them.

Beware the messenger

[pipingguy]

CEA study? I'm sure this analysis was unbiased and only considered opinions from appropriate participants. Plus, kdkgjdjig

Whoops, sorry, I got an orgasm while washing my hair.

Note:

[purduephotog]

The previous posters will not have any problem keeping a woman entertained.... although should they continously buy gifts that meet the afore mentioned speed settings... they may not keep them long.

Re:It's the CELL PHONES!!!

[deepfusion]

What? I have to really struggle to think of someone I know who doesn't own a cell phone, male or female. The reason they spend more money in that category is due the fact women just don't know when to shut the hell up. Trust me, it's the reason men are labeled as poor listeners, after thousands of years of evolution we developed this ability to 'tune-out and nod our heads' just to keep our sanity. That and the fact we could no longer just knock them out with our clubs and drag them back to the cave any longer. :-(

Females

[greygent]

Maybe females should learn about the awesome powers of pricewatch.com and newegg.com, instead of buying those expensive Apple computers.

Re:You guys laugh, but this doesn't surprise me

[JudgeFurious]

It's possible to sell someone AOL? I thought it was something you just noticed you had one day like Herpes.

Re:Yeah, but... (flamebait)

[DarthWiggle]

// begin obvious
who in here has a significant other?
// end obvious

// begin disclaimer
no, no, I know that _some_ slashdotters have mates.
// end disclaimer

// begin snickering
*snicker
// end snickering

Your reply:

[jeko]

"Yeah, I hate complicated stuff. Finishing up my master's in EE damn near killed me, and you wouldn't believe how complicated THAT got. Of course, now I can get a real job that doesn't involve wearing a nametag."

Re:You guys laugh, but this doesn't surprise me

[madcow_ucsb]

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 only that, but now she has an unexpected extra $1 that she can use that for something else!

Re:Radio Shack data is wrong.

[Psykechan]

Everytime I go into a Radio Shack there's always a woman in there. Unfortunately it's because I went in there.

Re:no surprise...

[skahshah]

Women have 50 pairs of shoes/handbags etc. because those are not meant to be used more than once! I know. I have been married.