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Women buy jewelry for fashion, men buy for love

October 28, 2010  By Amanda Ryder


Oct. 28, 2010 – A new Ipsos Reid study of accessories purchases in Canada shows that on
items such as sunglasses, wallets, watches and jewelry, the spending
habits of Canadians varies by product, gender and season.

Oct. 28, 2010 – A new Ipsos Reid study of accessories purchases in Canada shows that
on items such as sunglasses, wallets, watches and jewelry, the spending
habits of Canadians varies by product, gender and season. In
particular, the Ipsos Reid Canadian Accessories Tracker shows some very
defined differences between the ways and the amounts men and women
spend in this segment.

“During April, May and June of this year, heading into summer, about
one in seven (14%) Canadians reported purchasing sunglasses
(non-prescription and prescription), spending, on average, more than
fifty dollars ($52) per pair,” says Michael Waters, Senior Vice
President with Ipsos Reid’s marketing research division. “Clearly,
sunglasses are a significant consumer purchase, with the proportion of
Canadians purchasing exceeding that of luggage and backpacks (7%),
wallets (6%) and watches (5%) and on par with buyers of purses and
handbags (14%) and jewelry (14%).”

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While the sunglasses market is skewed slightly to female buyers
(59%) versus male buyers (41%) the jewelry market dramatically leans
toward female buyers (79%). But, although males do not represent a
significant proportion of jewelry buyers (21%) they do account for the
majority (52%) of dollars spent in the category.

“Within the jewelry category, men are more likely to be buyers of
fine jewelry (30% of fine jewelry buyers) and are much less likely to
be buyers of fashion or costume jewelry (11%),” Waters continues.
“Almost three-quarters (72%) of men reported that their purchase of
fine jewelry was for a gift, and fewer than a third (30%) of them said
their purchase was on sale.”

It appears that male buyers of fine jewelry are less motivated by
items that are "on sale" than they are by love – almost two-thirds
(66%) of the total dollars spent by men on the fine jewelry category
was for rings. And men are not frugal when it comes to buying jewelry.
Male buyers of any jewelry during the April to June period spent an
average of $264 on each jewelry purchase ($379 on fine jewelry), versus
a much more modest $42 by female buyers ($96 for fine jewelry).


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