3 Ways to Shop Like a (Smart) Man
If shopping were an olympic sport, women would hold 99% of the gold medals. The stereotype is true: most men don’t like to shop. And that’s ok. But it’s also stupid. Because our aversion to shopping is causing us to make a lot of dumb decisions and miss out on great deals that will actually improve the way we look and feel. We’re here to right this grievous injustice and to level the playing field. So we’ve put together a few tips based on our experience, both as shoppers and now as insiders of a brand selling to men.
1. Use Email Correctly
The dirty, not-so-secret goal of most brands is this: they want you to keep their brand top-of-mind when you go to purchase the type of product they sell. That’s why you see those retargeting stalking ads following you around the internet after you’ve visited a website. That’s why brands spend lots of money on pretty ads both online and offline. And that’s why brands want your email. All of these things keep you in a company’s “sales funnel” and attempt to filter you down to the bottom where you hand over your money. Almost every brand is willing to pay to keep you in their sales funnel. This generally comes in the forms mentioned above: advertising. However, email is a bit different.
Email campaigns still perform extremely well for most consumer companies. And it doesn’t cost a company much to acquire your email. However, they know that once they get your email, they need to grab your attention and keep it. Otherwise you’ll just unsubscribe. So they pay for you in a different way: in the form of discounts. Retail brands offer them to subscribers early and often.
Here’s how to take advantage: Sign up for a few brands’ email blasts. Then, filter them to a to a folder for shopping, or start a dedicated shopping email account. This way you’ll never clog your inbox or get overwhelmed when your boss/girlfriend/annoying friend is crushing you with demands and you don’t care about the latest underwear subscription discount. When the time comes when you are looking for hilarious subscription underwear, or you just have some free time to kill, you can click into this folder and score great deals, easily.
Editor’s note: Obviously keep Pacific Issue in your inbox because we give you valuable advice like ↑, and this.
2. Think Ahead
Yes we know this sounds like generic bulls@$t advice. But here’s what we mean: Men shop like hunters. A problem arises:
I need new underwear, a task is made to fix that problem, I’m going to visit the mall on my way home, and the problem is solved, look at my sweet new tighty whiteys — I look fantastic. This is a logical way to do things, but it isn’t the best way. Take a tip from our better prepared counterparts. Women are always browsing, and because of this, they get better deals.
Here’s how to keep up: create a calendar reminder once every six months (that’s only two times per year for you math wizards) to walk into your closet and assess the damage. Do you need more shirts/underwear/pants? Will you need shoes/socks/dress clothes in the next few months? This takes approximately five minutes, saves you countless headaches, and allows you to take full advantage of tip numero uno.
3. Don’t buy crap
There’s a Finnish proverb that says “Poor people can’t afford cheap things.” And while you’re probably not poor (or Finnish), the point is, cheap sh*t constantly needs replacing. This adds up not only in terms of dollars and cents, but also in terms of your valuable time spent replacing said cheap sh^t. It’s a losing battle. So while all of our above chatter about scoring discounted sh$t makes us sound like boring cheapskates, don’t be confused. It’s about scoring discounted, quality sh#t that lasts.
When you really think about it, your job as a shopper is to get the best value for your money. While there’s often a correlation between price and quality, this isn’t always the case. There are plenty of crappy products out there that are priced at a premium just because they rest on a brand reputation.
If you can purchase a high quality (read: long lasting, well designed) belt, for the same price or even just slightly higher than, a decent quality belt, you’ve done your job well. Our goal at Pacific Issue has always been to give you the best value for your money. We don’t sell the cheapest custom shirts and we don’t sell the most expensive ones. If you’re buying on either of those spectrums chances are you aren’t getting a good deal (again, read: value for money). So here’s what to do: before purchasing, research a brand as best you can. This means asking friends and family, reading reviews (watch out for paid placements disguised as reviews), and generally doing your homework — maybe that’s a store visit or maybe it’s perusing a few online forums. Trust us, you’ll be happy you did your homework when you don’t have to replace an item for the next few years.
