Consumer is Queen

Following Essay was submitted by me to Council for Fair Business Practice's Annual Essay Competition.

"If you understand women's consumer DNA and implement strategies that ring with authenticity, you will improve all of your marketing efforts. If you make it women-friendly, you make it everybody-friendly!"
- Joanne Yaccato (Gender Intelligence Expert & Founder of Toronto-based consulting firm The Thomas Yaccato Group)

Origin of Concept: Women Consumers
A consumer is a person who uses any product or service. Typically when business people and economists talk of consumers they are talking about person as consumer, an aggregated commodity item with little individuality other than that expressed in the buy/not-buy decision. However there is a trend in marketing to individualize the concept. Here is where the modern marketers distinctly segregated the concept of Women Consumers and saw them in a different light as to how they can be better reached and influenced. Women Consumers are presumed to dictate what goods are purchased and are generally considered the center of economic activity.

Women: Centre of Choice, Therefore Centre of Economic Activity
One of the major contributions that we all make to the economy is through buying things. Women's role as care givers has meant that women play an especially prominent role in buying things that provide sustenance for home and family. Women have been ignored in the past because they're in plain sight, but not anymore. It's standard marketing wisdom that women control 80% of all household purchases (Consulting firm A.T. Kearney estimates). As a result women have to face a number of decisions related to products/services & brands. This insight proves why marketers of household supplies, kids' gear, food, cosmetics and clothes are good at reaching women. But women buy gender-neutral stuff, too: cars, auto services, technology--the list includes everything but Viagra! Increasingly, women take responsibility for buying larger items such as houses and cars. And women are also often responsible for buying gifts on behalf of their families. When kids go to birthday parties, it is usually the mother who purchases and wraps the gift. It often works the same way when a couple attends a wedding or anniversary. Women are faced with endless choices and decisions in their lives as consumers. These facts make them centre of economic activities.



Women-O-Nomics: Underestimation of Economic Contribution of Women
Even the non-monetary part of consumption is part of the economy. Shopping for the goods that we need to survive takes time and attention. Buying food and clothes and school supplies and home furnishings often means watching out for sales and discounts. Comparison shopping, searching for offers, and finding the best deal, is also time-consuming. Shopping is work and is part of the unpaid labour not counted in the formal economy. But whether or not it's recognized as work, shopping is an activity fraught with dichotomy.

Women-O-Nomics: Escalating Economic Power of Women
Younger generations of Indian women have been profound. Whereas Indian women traditionally have been submissive to parents and husbands and valued frugality and modesty, a number of sociological studies show that young Indian females now prize financial independence, freedom to decide when to marry and have children, and glamorous careers. TOMORROW'S BUYERS. A generation back, women would sacrifice themselves and believed in saving, today, it is spend, spend, and spend. It is O.K. for a woman to want something for herself, and people will accept it if she goes out into a man's world making a statement. Because today's young women are the key consumer group of tomorrow, these shifts have big implications for marketing companies.

Women- The Evolved Consumers
Freud famously wondered, "What does a woman want?" He never figured it out, but many business owners have and are making money in the process. What women want right now is attention to detail in product design and service; the right choices, not endless choices; and a nuanced, longer selling process that respects their desire to understand what they're buying before they take it home. This prevailing wisdom doesn't just apply to the obvious categories like clothes, kids' stuff and cosmetics but too many more product categories. Apart from this, women tend to be far more evolved with respect to the kind of data that is assimilated from them through marketing research; they are excellent feedback providers and come up with ingenious insights. Also women are in the forefront to advocate ethical marketing practices and often take up action against fraudulent practitioners. Marketers of any product or service can adopt a service philosophy that delivers what women want. Once you translate these expectations to your market niche, you'll win the hearts and of women which directly translates into a loyal following.

Caselets

1.)A survey carried out in USA (in year 2006) states that 60 percent of women 16 and older are working. In nearly two-thirds of households, women are the primary shoppers, but 72 percent of married women who work full time are the primary shoppers. This reinforces the fact that women are the key decision makers and keeping focus on them is the key.

2.)Recent studies by Grey Global Group (In Year 2005) examined 3,400 unmarried women aged 19-22 of different income and social levels. Altogether, the project involved 40 focus groups in five large metro areas and five smaller cities in India. In some cases, the researchers lived with the women for a while to study them more closely. The researchers supplemented this data with interviews of journalists, teachers, and psychologists. The important trends recorded were as follows:

1.)Guilt-free materialism- 51% of young single women in major metro areas say it's necessary to have a big house and big car to be happy. In smaller cities, 86% agreed with this statement.

2.)Parental ties-67% say they plan to take care of their parents into their old age -- and that means they need money.


3.)Marital freedom- 65% say dating is essential, and they also want to become financially independent before they marry. More than three-quarters -- 76% -- say they want to maintain that independence afterward. Sixty percent say they'll decide how to spend their own salaries


4.)Individualism- Female role models in Indian culture used to personify perfection, Now, 62% of girls say it's O.K. if they have faults and that people see them.


5.)Careerism- 45% of young single females say they would like to be journalists. 39% say they would like to be managers, 38% are interested in design, and 20% think they want to be teachers. Interestingly, 13% say they would like to be in the military. The percentage of those saying they want to be a full-time housewife was minuscule.

6.)Modern husbands- The traditional role donned by husbands is changing and they are more involved with household chores.

Grey Global Group is of the opinion that For Indian society, the changes in young women's outlook on life is revolutionary. For marketers, they offer interesting new opportunities to exploit.

Queen Rules
Women are not just passive recipients of products & services. Women are powerful and have a powerful role to play. Working together as consumers and producers, women can make the world a more just place for all people and for our earth.


"No business owner can afford to ignore The Queen- women, and few would admit to doing so. But not ignoring them is not the same as attracting them, and attracting them is not the same as winning their loyalty. Try hard to woo the Queen, for you are sure to succeed with her!"
- Namita Parekh (Marketing Student & a Women Consumer)