Survey: Men more inclined to shop in-store post vaccination

Across every generation, men are more inclined to head in-store for clothing and footwear after being vaccinated than women. 

That’s according to a survey from First Insight in which 64% of millennial men planned to shop for apparel in-store more or the same amount after being vaccinated while only 45% of millennial women said the same. This trend is consistent across every other generation as well. 

The survey found that apparel was not the only category where men are more comfortable heading in-store. A higher percentage of men are planning to shop more or the same in-store for footwear and beauty after being vaccinated compared to women across generations. The single exception was baby boomers shopping for beauty products, where 50% of women in this generation plan to shop more or the same in-store compared to 43% of men.

“The fact that more men than women across every generation are planning to head in-store after being vaccinated should be a wake-up call for retailers,” said Greg Petro, CEO of First Insight. “As retailers consider how to create better connections with consumers through marketing messages, product assortments, pricing and experiences, our data found that they should set aside any preconceived notions about who will be heading in-store first, and be ready for a higher percentage of male shoppers of all ages.”

Additional findings from the survey are below:

• More women than men are not planning to get vaccinated across every generation, especially millennial men. Fewer millennial men responded that they would not get vaccinated or were unsure about vaccinations (13%) compared to women (41%) of the same generation. This represented the greatest gender divide among generations. 

However, baby boomer men (21%) and women (32%) represented a similar trend, as did Generation Z men (26%) and women (48%).

• The majority of men across all generations plan to continue to wear masks after being vaccinated. More than 60% of men across baby boomers and Generation X (65%), millennials (61%) and Generation Z (51%) said they plan to continue to wear masks after vaccination according to the survey. This compares to only 56% of boomer women, 48% of Generation X women, 45% of millennial women and 39% of Generation Z women.

For a deeper look at the data, download First Insight’s infographic here.