Women and Their Purchasing Power
Shopping and buying are ideally associated to women, thus the term “shopaholic”, but when it comes to finances and big purchases such as cars and homes, it’s the men who have the last say. However, societal changes have brought about changes in the position of women in terms of finances and purchases. Today, it’s clear that women have a huge role in majority of home or business purchases.
With more and more women having the power to buy, entrepreneurs and marketers should shift their focus from the macho market to include the women market. Based on research, women make up 85% of all the purchases in the market. This percentage includes home purchase decisions that are influenced heavily by women. It seems that women are good in influencing their husbands and children to agree to their purchasing decision.
Marketers and business owner can’t afford to ignore these powerful influencers. Even through simple marketing literatures such as custom calendar printing or postcard designed especially for them can already work wonders for the business.
Women are actually valuable customers for three reasons:
– They are faithful. If they like a brand or a product, they will continue to buy. Likewise, if they receive useful and thoughtful messages from the company on a regular basis, they will remember.
– There are households where women bring greater share in the household income than the men. This will give them more buying power.
– They are likely to tell others of their purchases either through word-of-mouth or social networking sites.
Social media and women buyers
Social media is one great avenue to market to women. More and more women, even moms, these days have their own Facebook or Twitter account. Others even update their blogs regularly. They also post photos and update their status, and do one of the most important things they love to: shop.
Online shopping is popular these days. In just a few clicks, they can already have access to thousands of stores and products, even those brands they love. Facebook, for instance, offer businesses free advertising. Some companies even use this media to provide additional incentives to people who “like” their pages. This generates immediate customer response while collecting data which can help them update their mailing list.
Reaching out to women
Aside from ads and discounts on Twitter and Facebook, there are other ways to reach out to women buyers:
– Resourcefulness is the key. Blog posts are great in delivering practical and valuable ideas to women customers. Similarly, brochures and calendar templates are great avenues to share how-to tips and articles.
– Engage customers. Good connection with encourage women to stay loyal to a business. Invite them to share photos and stories or vote in a survey. The more they feel valuable the more they will become loyal.
– Listen. Don’t do all the talking. Customers, especially women, want to be heard as well. Listen to their ideas and feedbacks. If there are problems, address them right away. Invite them to join forums so they can interact with other women.
Interact with women now. Influence them to spend. Interact with them. Help them save, and the end of the day both of the company and its customers will go home happy.
Processing your request, Please wait....
