Malaysian men love to bargain more, but women get bigger discount: Study

KUALA LUMPUR — In the world of bargaining for a good price, just 40 per cent of Malaysians polled enjoyed the art of haggling with them receiving discounts of 17 per cent on average, according to a study released by online discount code platform Picodi.

The study said while personality traits can influence a person's negotiation skills, it was possible that gender could play a role, with 45 per cent male respondents polled loving bargaining as compared to 37 per cent of women.

However, the same study revealed that women received slightly bigger discounts by one percentage point more than men, with an average of 18 per cent discount after negotiations.

In Malaysia, the study revealed 45 per cent of men found it in easier to haggle, while 35 per cent believed it was easier for women, and 20 per cent found it equally doable for both genders.

“A majority of the countries believed it was easier for women than men to haggle... many countries believed the success of haggling was equal, regardless of gender.

“In only two countries — Malaysia and the US — did participants suggest negotiating was easier for men than women,” the study wrote.

The Picodi study is titled “Cultural sentiments towards haggling — Product negotiations around the world” and polled more than 1,700 consumers in 44 countries and cultures from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Central and South America, Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Only countries with at least 20 respondents were included in the study.

According to the study, Malaysians were 101 per cent most likely to negotiate a better price for taxi rides. Other commodities most negotiated in the country included rent (93 per cent) and furniture (79 per cent).

Both men and women would be most willing to bargain over clothing (14 and 17 per cent respectively) and car (12 and 9 per cent respectively).

For services, men were more likely to haggle over the cost of fixing their cars (26 per cent), home repairs (25 per cent) and taxi rides (22 per cent).

Women were more willing to negotiate phone bills (10 per cent), housing (nine per cent), and cleaning (seven per cent).

The study saw 24 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men believing appearance have some impact in negotiating, Canada, the US and Germany topped the countries that find attractiveness could influence negotiation skills.

Overall, the study concluded though men enjoyed the bargaining process more than women, they may not be as skilled in the art of negotiating. MALAY MAIL ONLINE