Online Big Spenders Tend To Be Men, NPR/Marist Poll Shows

Nearly three out of 10 online shoppers have taken the plunge to buy an item that costs $1,000 or more. Men are twice as likely as women to press click and buy a big ticket item, according to a new NPR/Marist poll.

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If a shopper clicks “buy” for a product that costs $1,000 or more, it’s twice as likely to be a man than a woman. That’s one of the results revealed in a new NPR/Marist poll about online shopping.

The poll found that 27 percent of online shoppers — regardless of gender — have taken taken the plunge on big-ticket items ($1,000 or more). It’s the evolution of digital commerce from the Web’s early days in the 1990s, when people worried about giving out their credit card information and fretted over returns and whether products would even arrive.

Today, many shoppers are willing to make even their most cherished and expensive purchases online. NPR reached out and heard from dozens of them, people who’ve bought musical instruments, a diamond engagement ring, a computer numerical control machine tool, a Porsche Boxster, an above-ground pool, signatures of historical figures and props involving Han Solo and Xena: Warrior Princess.