As David Mick, marketing professor at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce, noted, “No doubt, men's and women's shopping roles have changed. Men are more often going into grocery stores and buying categories of things they would not have bought a generation ago. It has been going on for the past 20 years and has been steadily rising.”
According to the “2005 HealthFocus Trend Report,” 57% of (men today) say they have a great deal of control over what their family eats, compared with only 46% in 2002. For that matter, “Customer Focus: Retail,” a study by Vertis, found males aged 18 to 34 are more likely to do 60% or more of the grocery shopping for their household. Around 52% of the 35 to 49 male demographic, meanwhile, will handle that much of the grocery shopping burden, while 54% of those over 50 will be responsible. However, this might be somewhat misleading.