The sexes are aisles apart on shopping

WOMEN are queens of budget grocery shopping while men are kings of convenient buys, a study has found.

Research on the battle of the sexes across supermarket aisles reveals blokes now make up half of all visitors to grocery stores.

But they are often not trusted to take control of the trolley — one in six regularly take a list their partner has provided.

Females tend to be more focused on saving money and making healthier choices than males, the Koji study concluded. Men are more easily tempted to make unplanned buys that may blow the budget.

“Males are more driven to make impulsive product selections,” Koji founder Mike Cassidy said. “Four in 10 bought something unexpectedly, compared with three in 10 females.

“Men often go for what is easy to get to, within arms’ reach and straight in front of their field of vision.

“Easy shopping will usually win out over making them work for their purchase.”

The retail trends agency surveyed the habits of 2000 customers nationwide.

Half of the women were worried about getting best value for money and/or to sticking to their budget. That compared with two in five men who were fussed about finances.

The fresh fruit and vegetable section was a pit stop for half of women on their most recent supermarket visit, compared with one-third of men. Almost one in five guys headed for the ready-meals and deli departments, compared with one in eight women.

The number of supermarket visitors is now evenly split by gender, the Koji study suggests. Five years ago females made up six in 10 visitors.

Mr Cassidy attributed much of the change to big mortgages forcing both parents to work full-time and sharing shopping duties.