“I am so tired of look-alike shops with robotic staff, all saying the same things, trying to sell me the same product as every other shop!”“Where are the eccentrics? Why is shopping so bland now?”

“What’s wrong with everybody? I swear if I go into another shop and watch the staff run away rather than risk talking to me as a person, I’m going to scream…”

And so it goes. Just some of the comments women tell me day after day. And yet the smart retailer recognises that women are not a niche. They recognise that women are the long run and comments like the above make them shudder. In fact, statistics show that women spend, or influence the decision to buy, 85% of all retail dollars spent in Australia.

Reaching women consumers is not a trend. It’s the lucrative future, for anyone who grabs it. Slightly tweaked male-oriented products or marketing efforts will no longer do.

Aside from the obvious physical differences and despite the nature vs nurture debates – men and women really ARE different from one another.

Let’s compare how men and women make shopping decisions:

Men:

• Internalise
• Use logic
• Report
• Convince
• Are decisive
• Are product focused
• Sell
• Judge
• Command
• Get in and out of the shop quickly

Women:

• More often look at price tags
• Are harder to sell-up
• Spend more time doing shopping + more often linger + dwell
• Take longer to close the sale
• Compare products/values more often Pay more attention to display
• Create, imagine + envision how they will interact with the product
• Consider shopping a skill More often shop with one another
• Interact more with sales staff
• Are more patient + inquisitive
• Make decisions based on emotions
• Consult each other more often
• Demand more of environments
• Take pride in shopping

When Selling/Marketing to Women:

DO:

• Deliver consistency in quality, service and value
• Give incentives for repeat purchasing
• Reward her for long term patronage
• Offer value through co-branding and packaging

DON’T

• Waste her time or make her wait
• Give her bad or even marginal service
• Misrepresent your products – if they are cheap, tell her they are cheap; she may still buy them
• Over-design, over-change or discontinue her favourite styles

The results from frank about women’s survey “Retail Rituals: Women’s Changing Attitudes Toward Shopping” send loud and clear messages to retailers. 60% of women say their attitudes and behaviours toward shopping have changed in the last 5 years. In the current climate of busy, stressful lifestyles, economic uncertainty and political change, many women said shopping just isn’t fun anymore.

Functional shopping for necessary items is driven by the need to make every dollar count, while shopping to relieve the tension brought on by such stressful times and increasingly busy lives often compels women to splurge on themselves.

It’s natural that women would cite personal motivations for shopping. What we’re seeing, however is that almost all women feel an increased need to provide comfort for their families in a very careful, budget-conscious way.

Overwhelmingly, the majority of women in the survey said they feel the need to be price-conscious and make their dollars stretch as far as possible. In fact, 73% of women say they shop primarily when there are sales, and 93% indicate they actually enjoy bargain hunting while they shop.

And it’s not your average voucher that will motivate women to buy. 20% said they look for a clearance sale with an extra discount or coupon, while 33% said they need a 50% discount, a buy-one-get-one-free offer, or better, for motivation.

There is, however, a counter-trend to this “deep discount” finding. When women feel stressed, they said they use shopping as a way to relax, forget their problems, or feel better about themselves. A majority (68%) said they would shop to treat themselves to something special. When that motivation is factored in, women often don’t consider price. They tend to look for personal luxury items that make themselves feel better.

So, can you afford to keep doing it the way you’ve always done it? Or are there areas that you could improve upon that will delight women shoppers and thereby increase your sales? Give it some thought … because if you get it wrong – your business suffers.