Tweet

Do We Ignore Half the Market?

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: We all know half (or about half) of the world's population is female. Most married or involved males know that they can do anything they want to do as long as "SHE" thinks it's OK. Testosterone works in the boardroom but in the living room, bedroom...forget it!!! If they are "kinda" important in our business lives, why can't we get it right when it comes to offering products? Maybe we just aren't listening...NAW!!!!

Do We Ignore Half the Market?

IDC and Gartner recently reported 68.5M consumer PCs were sold in Q3 of this year and volumes could hit 70M in Q4.

We're well on our way to the industry's next big goal...2B PCs WW.

The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) estimates CE sales will hit $48.1 B in Q4 producing modest industry growth for the year.

All in all, not bad for a lackluster year.

We've done a good job of profiling and targeting the early adopters.

Looking at our kids list of "gotta have" stuff, they've nailed the teens, tweens and Gen Yers.

Watching the Wii commercials with old dudes bowling, they've tapped into the boomers+.

Problem is we've only given lip service to half of the global population...women, even lady geeks.

Maybe the problem is exactly as Sean Connery stated..."I like women. I don't understand them, but I like them."

This epiphany came to us as we tried to figure out why our 1TB home server was already half full.

Turned out the files were typical of most consumers' home system storage - digital photos, music, video clips, personal videos, etc.

Very little of it was ours !

That got us to thinking...and wondering...

Fearing The Unknown

Why is the industry doing such a poor job in reaching the female segment of the market?

It might be as Warren Farrell said, "The only men who aren't in fear of women's reactions are usually men who aren't born or who are dead."

While most firms - manufacturers and retailers - may not fear women, only a few have really tried tapping into this half of the buying public.

BestBuy has a separate team that focuses on reaching the female technology/CE consumer.

Many of the camera manufacturers have introduced female-friendly devices.

MP3 player producers are doing a decent job.

The cellphone industry has done a fair job of figuring out half of their buyers are women.

Notebook manufacturers seem to test the waters and then retreat to the old tried-and-true.

The industry is leaving millions - if not billions - on the table by not recognizing, understanding and paying attention to "the other half" of the market.

Delivering the right information and product shouldn't be that difficult.

All we have to do is follow Vivian/Julia's advice..."You know, you could pay me now, and break the ice."

Understanding Them

Breaking the ice for the industry isn't a big secret. Lots of firms have studied the situation including ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi:

- 35% of female internet users would increase spending on CE if the industry tried harder to reach/assist them

- 50% of the women walk out of stores without buying anything because they can't find what they want

- Women don't want to be patronized with pink stuff but rather products that are sleek, well-designed (crap maybe Jobs is onto something!)

- In fact, 43% of women don't set out with a specific brand or product in mind

It was also found that there are four distinct mind-sets or "shopping genes:"

- Content responsibles - practical, loyal, efficient

- Natural hybrids - confident, balanced, classic

- Social catalysts - social, smart, trendy

- Cultural artists - creative, impulsive, adventurous

So, if we can deliver the right products and the right environment/atmosphere, the industry should be able to expand its sales opportunities.

Men slightly dominate the Internet. But the difference really amounts to a rounding error.

According to most reports by 2010/2011, women will begin to contribute their unfair share to the Internet and Web 2.0 worlds.

A study of affluent working women finds:

- 94.3% access the Internet on an average month

- Online purchases have increased 56.6%

- 50.8% are considered heavy Internet users spending at least 430 minutes a week online

A comScore study shows:

- Female gamers average 41 years of age and account for 52% of the gaming audience

- 84% have broadband access at home

- "Middle-aged" women rule the $458 M online casual game market (70% of the gamers are female, over 40)

Women don't control all of the decisions and purchases in a family or relationship...just the ones that count.

Or as Vivian/Julia said, "I can do anything I want to baby, I ain't lost."

Solving Problems, Meeting Needs

While the industry may not be doing everything it can to assist/encourage female buyers.

Women use the web for more than just "women only" sites.

Unlike men they do research and they ask questions. The web has become their number one source for finding information.

Women don't want industry players to solve their problems. They simply want us to listen.

It's not that they haven't told us...we just aren't listening.

Women who struggle through web sites are very adept at finding sales, discounts, coupons and gift ideas.

And if they are satisfied or dissatisfied, they are expressing themselves regarding stores and products online with their reviews, blogs.

In fact according to a recent Pew Internet study:

- Women are more enthusiastic online communicators using email to exchange information and news

- Women appreciate the Internet's strongest suit, efficiency

- Women are more likely to see the vast array of online information as a "glut" and to penetrate deeper into areas where they have the greatest interest

- The rate of growth of women using the internet for online activities is greater than men

- Younger and black women outpace their male peers

Just as the old saying that on the Internet no one knows if you're a dog or not, it appears that no one knows if you're male or female.

But they certainly have different informational and decision making wants and needs.

Active, Involved

Technology was traditionally more passive (watching TV, listening to the radio, reading the paper).

Technology has empowered consumers.

It has enabled them to create and mix their own content.

It has opened the door to research products, technology more thoroughly.

It has provided women an opportunity to express their likes, dislikes, needs more globally.

If women don't find products, technology that delivers for them they'll look elsewhere immediately.

And find it they will...with the competition.

It's a lot like Voltaire said, "I hate women because they always know where things are."

Companies that focus on what is important to women and treat them as a significant consumer can more quickly, more easily and more profitably tap into the other half of the world population.

Are they more loyal?

We can't say yes with any degree of confidence.

All we know is what Vivian/Julia said, "I'm gonna treat you so nice, you're never gonna let me go."

##########

Related Articles
  Weathering the Market
  Did you meet your sales goals through June?
  Nurturing Creativity at Work
  Handling Critics
  Bear Market Defense

Article Tags: bestbuy, camera manufacturers, cellphone industry, consumer electronics association, consumer pcs, decent job, early adopters, fear of women, female segment, gen yers, global population, home server, music video clips, notebook manufacturers, photos music, poor job, system storage, teens tweens, warren farrell, wii



Related Forum Posts
Re: Business hype - The Irish bar has a nice World Cup promotional campaign on to draw people in to view the games live... Each game has a special drink discount IF something happens during the game, and whenever possible the drinking theme is related to the game. EG: Half price drinks if Japan scores (as the bar is in Japan)... Half price tequila shots if Mexico scores first...
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Half of 2011 is gone - Half of 2011 is gone. Did you achieve your goals? If not you can look at your mistakes in the past six months and concentrate on what to do in the next six months. Before we know it, we will be greeting each other Merry Xmas and everything still remain the same.
Re: How should i promote a new website? - ignore this message IF it's already been stated. I haven't had a chance to read all the replies and i have to jet from the office... I suggest marketing where ever your Target Market congregates. If it's a forum of concerned parents - go there. Strike up a deal with the forum owner (JV) and have him promote it to the list of members (Integration Marketing). If you want to go with Forums then i would partner with a parent who is a frequent poster/moderator on a particular Target Market Forum and have him/her add your link to their signature. That was just a thought but it's not as intense once you get buy in from the Forum owner or high ranked poster/moderator. Hope that sparks some new ideas.
Re: Ideas For Business - Hello Lucy, you may consider this list for Ideas for Business: (Top 23 list) Rank Company 1 Google 2 Genentech 3 Wegmans Food Markets 4 Container Store 5 Whole Foods Market 6 Network Appliance 7 S.C. Johnson & Son 8 Boston Consulting Grp. 9 Methodist Hospital Sys. 10 W.L. Gore & Associates 11 Cisco Systems 12 David Weekley Homes 13 Nugget Market 14 Qualcomm 15 American Century Invest. 16 Starbucks Coffee 17 Quicken Loans 18 Station Casinos 19 Alston & Bird 20 QuikTrip 21 Griffin Hospital 22 Valero Energy 23 Vision Service Plan


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

The True Cost of Employee Turnover

The OLD Way of Advertising, May Not be so OLD

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.