There
is no denying: women are powerful consumers. They can make or break
brands. Be it shopping for themselves, their children or their
husbands, women play a dominant role.
Studies show women are
responsible for buying 80% of the household goods. It is often played
down, but women have a great deal of influence on the economy as
consumers.
They have a lot of spending power!
No wonder television
commercials and print advertisements pitch their stuff to the woman
consumer, trying hard to woo women. Chhaya Momaya, Image Consultant,
Life Coach & Grooming Centre, says, "It is very easy to convince a
man, but very difficult to convince a woman. If you convince her, she
is all yours."
What do women love so
much about shopping? Chhaya says it is the clothes. Priyanka Jethwani,
student, MMK College, Bandra, Mumbai, echoes her views. Priyanka can
shop anywhere, anytime. "Wearing new clothes and carrying new bags
gives me a high. Looking good has always made me feel happy."
True,
new things -- clothes, shoes, bags -- excite women. But women don't
just shop for themselves; they shop for their family, too. Ad filmmaker
Prahlad Kakkar says most advertisements are targeted towards children,
even though are not the ones that will shop. Thus, mothers
automatically become the target.
He says this is limited
only to small products such as toothpaste, detergents or day-to-day
stuff. "Women play a dominant role (in terms of advertising target)
only for small items. Men have the decision making power when it comes
to white goods such as air conditioners, televisions or refrigerators."
But at the end of the
day, all products targeted to men and children would be eventually
targeted to women. "Buying expensive products has now become a family
decision. Here, women, even kids, play an important role," says actor
and ad filmmaker Bharat Dabholkar.
Nisha Vazirani (42),
who is working at Films Division, agrees: "Small household items are a
necessity, I have to buy them. But when it comes expensive products, I
often ask my husband to come along to shop."
Woman-specific
ads are now the norm for some promotional campaigns. These ads have a
strong woman-centric message and use colours and designs that attract
and influence women customers.
Vijay Menon, founder,
CEO, MobileNXT, says, "The percentage of pure women customers for
mobile phones is about 15%. But if you include the percentage of women
customers who accompany a male customer while shopping, the number goes
up to about 30% to 35%."
Women customers not only constitute a sizeable segment of purchasers, they also play a role in influencing male customers.