6 Things You Should Know When Marketing to Female Shoppers [Infographic]

Here’s a fresh look at the who – what – when – where – why – and how of marketing to women that can help you do a better job of attracting, engaging and converting female shoppers.

Marketing to Women: 6 Facts About Female Shoppers Retailers Need to Know Today

Women may always be a mystery to men, but that need not be the case for retailers. Here is a closer look at how female shoppers are navigating the retail sector right now that can help you land more sales with women consumers.

Who, what, when, where, why and how? These are the questions that every researcher seeks to answer. If your business needs to find success in its efforts at marketing to women, these are questions that can help provide insights about female consumers that you can use to shape your marketing strategies. Here are some research findings about women shoppers that made our list of things you should know.

Marketing to Women: 6 Key Stats About Female Consumers

Who

Women make up 70 percent of all consumer spending in the U.S. and they are responsible for about 60 percent of all online shopping. Not only do they spend more online and off than men, by the year 2030, they are projected to earn more, too. (Graphs.net, What Women Buy Infographic)

What

Data from statista.com shows the breakdown when it comes to what men and women bought online in June 2014 across 10 popular spending categories.

While women shop more often and spend more money than male consumers, it’s also important to understand that men are more likely to buy expensive items. In fact, a paymentsense.co.uk infographic (scroll down to see it) notes that over a six month period, most men said that their most expensive purchase was between $1,000 and $2,500, compared to a range of just $100-$500 for women.

Seven out of ten women said the last purchase they made online was for something that was on sale, compared to just 57 percent of men. In addition, women are also more likely to use coupons, and make up 62 percent of the U.S. audience on deal site Groupon.com.

When

When they need a lift, that’s when! 64 percent of women shoppers admitted to spending money in an attempt to improve their mood (just 40 percent of men made a similar confession). For female shoppers that wanted to feel better by way of retail therapy, 58 percent opted to buy clothing. (paymentsense.co.uk)

Where

Not only do more women shop online, but marketers can also find more of them on nearly every social network, find them more often on social networks, and find that they are more likely to engage with brands on social networks too. Check out these stats courtesy of an infographic on marketingtechblog.com:

30 percent of women say they use social networks several times each day, vs. just 26 percent of men. Plus, women are more likely to show support for a brand, access brand offers, stay current on brand news, or post a comment on a brand’s social media profile than men.

Why

A feature article on Forbes.com offers up one great big reason that women shop more, and spend more, than men. “In virtually every society in the world, women have primary care-giving responsibilities for both children and the elderly (and often, just about everybody else in-between). In this primary caregiving role, women find themselves buying on behalf of everyone else in their lives.” Bridget Brennan, in The Real Reason Women Shop More than Men on Forbes.com.

Many women bear the responsibility for shopping not only for themselves but for a wide range of potential “others,” and most of these others are people that she cares about very much.

How

Based on the data above, here are a few ideas for marketing to women that can help you do a better job of engaging female consumers and generating more sales with women shoppers.

Who: The buying power of women is on the rise. Smart marketers will make marketing to female buyers in both retail and B2B a top priority in the next several decades – and it’s about much more than ‘thinking pink.’ Pander or condescend to savvy women shoppers at your peril! Use data, trends, surveys and focus group findings to ensure that you have what women in your target markets want and to discover the most effective ways of winning them over.

What: Give your female audience what they want in the form of timely, compelling offers, coupons, sales and specials, and help offset smaller profit margins with increased volume by incentivizing social sharing (online and off) among members of your target markets.

When: In all your talk of practical features and benefits, don’t forget to tell women shoppers why they’re going to feel better if they buy what you have to sell. Publish case studies and testimonials that speak to how great your buyers feel after they’ve completed the buying process.

Where: Given the dominance of women when it comes to activity and brand engagement on social networks, they may be a great place to increase brand awareness, engage women that fall within your target audiences, and drive additional traffic to your store or website.

Why: Remember that women are buying not only for themselves, but most are also buying for others. Build robust buyer personas and get better at knowing who else your female shoppers are likely to buy, and what they might want, too.

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