Gals keep Tempo as guys lag behind in PC spend

Women have eased ahead of men in computer ownership, according to research by electrical and computer retail firm Tempo, despite perceptions among women that the focus of computer sales is aimed predominantly at men.

About half of the women interviewed felt that computer buying was strongly oriented towards men, and nearly a quarter felt that computer retail stores should employ more female staff to make buying a computer easier.

Tempo marketing director Michael Kraftman said: ?During this survey, 56 per cent of consumers admitted they do not know much about computers and a third would buy a computer without fully understanding how it works.?

Almost 80 per cent of people said retailers could better explain the differences between computers. The research also revealed that the reason for buying and using a computer differs significantly according to the gender of the buyer.

While only five per cent of women said they would buy a computer for playing games, 15 per cent of men said they would buy one for that reason.

Consumers in socioeconomic class C2 cited business or office work as their main reason for buying a PC (27 per cent), whereas those in socioeconomic class ABC1 used PCs mainly for educational or reference use (43 per cent).

More men than women said their systems had been upgraded after purchase ? 62 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. Seven per cent fewer women than men said they were considering having their systems upgraded in the future.