A survey done by Compete revolves around how Pinterest is fueling the interest in online shopping.  The data they gathered showed that 25% of the total number of Pinterest users made a purchase because they saw something they like on Pinterest, may it be an item or a service.  And out of that 25%, more male users bought stuff compared to women.  Thirty-seven percent of men using Pinterest actually purchased stuff, while only 17% of women bought things they found on Pinterest.

The Compete survey also showed that the most items bought because of Pinterest has something to do with Food 57%, Home 40%, Arts and Crafts 34%, Style/Fashion 30%, Products 26%, Vacation 25%, Humor 25%, Travel 22%, Inspiration/Education 20%, stuff for kids 14%, and other stuff only at 4%.

The Compete survey is quite surprising given that, back in May, digital marketing agency iProspect, revealed that men have outshopped women online and that most of the things they purchase are luxury menswear and accessories for themselves.  According to iProspect, there are 19 million affluent males on the planet and the vast majority of them are fond of shopping online.  Half of that number spend more than $4,000 in online shopping each year.

And here I thought men shop online for gadgets and rare collectibles, not luxury menswear or accessories.  And it’s baffling how men would buy food online when all the while, I thought men are driven by the smell of food to make a purchase.

Mike Wheatley, a colleague of mine here at SiliconANGLE was kind enough to give his thoughts on online shopping.  He’s a bit skeptical regarding the high number of male online shoppers, stating that men often shop online if they’re looking for a better deal or if they can’t find what they’re looking for in retail shops.

“I guess most men only shop online if they can’t get something anywhere else, like collectibles, or, only if they can find what they want for a much better price,” Wheatley said.  “Otherwise, we like to go to the shop and play with things first, we’re very hands on, normally.”

Another thing Wheatley pointed out was the hassle of dealing with fraudulent or bogus online sellers.  He added that if he needed to buy anything online, he’d likely go to Amazon or eBay, not browse a social network then get redirected to the site or person’s page selling the item.

Wheatley has a right to doubt Compete’s survey since Pinterest doesn’t really release their own information.  And because of this, everyone’s free to give their own interpretation of Pinterest’s success.  Just like Modea who recently released their data which stated that 68% of Pinterest users are women, with 28.1% of users having an average household income of over $100,000, and that about half of the users have children and more than 27% are between the ages of 25 and 34.  This would make you think that more women would be buying online since they’re the majority of Pinterest users.

Boticca, the online jewelry shop also released information stating that Pinterest users are likely to purchase items from them online compared to Facebook users.  They just didn’t say who buys more, men or women.

Pinterest also entices users to buy online via their new weekly “pins you’ll love” newsletter that features items based on the interest of users.  But no data has been release yet if this weekly newsletter drove more people to make an online purchase or just stay on Pinterest longer.