Marketing wisdom tells us that 80% of all household purchases are made
by women, and no business owner can ignore them. Marketers of kids’ gear, food,
cosmetics and clothes are good at reaching women, but women buy gender-neutral
stuff too, like cars, auto services, technology and just about everything
except Viagra.
Yankelovich marketing consulting firm reports that 60% of women 16 and
older are working. They comprise over half of all college students and about
38% of small business owners according to the 2002 figures of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. A February 2002 study by Prudential Financial found that of
400 American women surveyed, 37% live in households with incomes of $50,000 -
$100,000, and 12% were in the $100,000 annual income range.
No business owner can afford to ignore this market, but not ignoring
them is not the same as attracting them.
Attracting them is not the same as winning their loyalty, either. There
is definitely a difference in dealing with women because they notice the small
stuff. While men tend to make judgments
based on first impressions and key interactions, women never stop gathering
information.
Women develop a collage of impressions about a business from a hundred
small factors; everything from its cleanliness to the design of the shopping
bag. Smart business owners turn this to their advantage by investing in small
amenities women can appreciate. Many young women today are much wiser than the
boomers were at the same age. They have traveled widely and are accomplished
and picky consumers.
The key to winning the loyalty of women shoppers and your share of this
market is to offer carefully selected choices rather than a plethora of
everything from A-to-Z that overwhelms them Eileen Fisher, designer of
women’s clothes, adopted this strategy and offers simple clothes in a
limited palette. Furniture stores such
as Storehouse Furniture in Atlanta
have pared their selections to an “everything goes with everything else”
array. Even house paint companies are
adhering to this strategy of paring down and offering carefully selected
choices.
Look! Women have so many work
and family responsibilities they don’t have time to research and ponder every
buying decision. They also aren’t trying
to impress their friends by having the most toys. While a man may want 16 different size
screwdrivers in his toolbox, you show a woman a tool with 16 interchangeable
heads and she’ll buy it. Now she has one
instrument which takes up less room but accomplishes the same thing, costs less
in the end, and does the same job.
Whether buying for themselves of for the business they own or manage,
women make final purchasing decisions based on the relationship with the
seller, not on statistics and voluminous data.
Given a choice on two nearly identical products, women will choose based
on customer service and relationship with the vendor.
Men want to buy the product and leave, while women want to know how it
works. Prescott True Value in Arizona has a loyal
following of women running households on their own due to divorce or
widowhood. By having enough staff to
guide the customer and answer questions they have good to unequaled repeat
business from women. Andy Andre, the owner of Prescott Arizona True Value store
has learned that customer service is respect.
“It’s taking the time to explain things to a customer and not talk down
to them” he says.
Entrepreneurs assume that marketing to women is all about discounts and
giveaways, but care and creativity is what really attracts women. If a man is ignored by a sales clerk he
thinks, “What a jerk.” A woman will think, “I hate this company.” It’s the
small things, good and bad, that make the impact on women customers. Learn this, and you’ve got a handle on your
share of a growing niche.
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