Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
It’s no secret that before any marketer puts their heart into developing a consumer ad campaign, they need to do their homework. Jumping into a creative execution – no matter how stellar it may be – prior to understanding the motivations, values and the lives of the target consumer is like deciding to eat a banana without peeling it first. A hasty move likely to produce unfortunate results.
Now, throw women into your target market, and the importance of understanding what makes them tick becomes exponentially higher. That’s because women are quickly emerging as the primary decision makers in the marketplace.
Some recent findings on the topic:
According to some studies, women account for as much as 85% (PDF) of all consumer brand purchases in the United States, including: 91% of new homes, 93% of food, 66% of PCs, 65% of new cars, and 89% of bank accounts.
By the end of this calendar year, U.S. women are expected to make up the majority of the country’s workforce. To that end, almost 40% of U.S. households report a woman as the primary breadwinner or a provider of essential income to the family’s bottom line.
According to Martha Barletta’s book Marketing to women, women are the world’s largest consumer group, with a collective buying power greater than Japan’s economy.
U.S. women are expected to control $1 trillion (or 60%) of the country’s wealth by the year 2010. That’s according to research conducted by BusinessWeek and Gallup.
And according to one survey, 91% of women say advertisers don’t understand them.
It seems female consumers are making quite a bit a noise in the marketplace. Today’s smart marketer knows it’s time to listen up.
Jacoub Bondre
November 18, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
Awesome info. Info we can all act on.
Ben Huxley
November 19, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
I agree with Jacoub. Great info.
Saluting your largest market in the world | BizDharma.com
March 8, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
[...] to a survey Women have 85% share in consumer brand purchase decisions. This includes homes, foods, cars and bank [...]
Black Women over 55 on Facebook… Takin’ Over with their White Counterparts! « The Sistagirl Recession Writer Blog
May 18, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
[...] It’s really a no brainer. Women usually run the households. Women usually buy the food, make the financial decisions for their families and make up basically the major influence of buying patterns in the United States today. [...]