By Rhonda Campbell
Female shopping trends continue to show the economy power that women wield. Marketing to women born between 1946 and 1964, the “baby boomer” years, is a smart business move. As reported at She Economy, “these women represent a portion of the buying public no marketer can afford to ignore.”
To start, nearly 43 percent of Americans with more than $500,000 in assets are women. Claire Behar, director at New Business Development, states that, “Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion.”
Female Shopping Spurns Economic Power
Additionally, women in the United States spend approximately $5 trillion a year; this figure is more than half the amount of money men spend. Of the female shopping or women buying market, 51 percent are mothers. Twenty-one percent of women consumers make a daily online purchase.
What might be more surprising is the fact that more than half of the women consumers, empowered people creating women shopping trends, said they feel misunderstood by advertisers. This could be due, in part, to the fact that less than four percent of advertising agency creative directors are women. That might not be good news when the fact that 92 percent of women pass along recommendations or advice to avoid certain products and services to their friends, relatives and other people they know.
By understanding female shopping trends, woman business owners could give themselves an edge. After all, women business owners know how they prefer to be marketed to. They also know what it is about a sales professional’s voice, body language and knowledge that causes them to make a purchase or to politely turn away from buying a product or service.
Succeeding in Female Shopping Markets
To succeed while working in markets that rely heavily on female shopping, women business owners might have to conduct market research on the buying habits of women who are from backgrounds that are different than their own. To discover what women from other ethnic groups want, women business owners can also visit online women’s networking groups, blogs and websites that are owned by women from diverse ethnic groups such as Hispanic, Japanese, African, Jamaican and Mexican women’s professional and social groups.
By reading comments around key topics at the sites, women business owners could get a pulse on what women from diverse backgrounds are most concerned about and/or want from retailers that target female shopping.
Women business owners can also join professional women’s organizations that have diverse memberships. Some of these organizations include:
• National Organization for Women
• National Council of Women’s Organizations
• American Association of University Women
• American Business Women’s Association
• Center for Women Leadership
• American Women in Radio and Television
Even if a business focuses on certain segments of the female shopping market, women entrepreneurs may find that, by learning about the wants of women from diverse backgrounds, they become more innovative, improving their products and services. This, in turn, could translate into increased profits.
Sources:
http://she-conomy.com/report/facts-on-women (She Economy)
