A new report from Nielsen confirms that women still control the spending power in the US. Some people estimate that we control $5-15 trillion annually. Now, I know that saying women still dominate retail shopping is like saying that it still snows at the North Pole, but there are some shifts going on that are interesting.
The report points out that men are taking a more active role in the shopping process than they have in the past. Woo-hoo! Between 2004 and 2012, U.S. women reduced the number of trips they made across most retail channels, while men increased their visits to all outlets except grocery and drug stores.
However women are still spending more money per trip than men in all shopping channels. Women drive the larger stock-up or planned trips and outspend males by $14.31 per trip in supercenters and by $10.32 per trip in grocery stores.
So basically, women are still doing the majority of shopping, but the data tends to suggest that men are beginning to assume more shopping duties beyond the trip to the convenience store for beer and chips.
Talking to the female shopper is more important than ever. So those at Nielsen are concerned, like we are, about the emotional and rational content of marketing and advertising messages.
Women remember more and differently than men do, so talk to both her emotional and rational sides and acknowledge her attention to detail. Layering emotional decision-making opportunities with rational information will increase purchase intent and will have strong “sticking” power. According to Nielsen NeuroFocus, the female brain is programmed to maintain social harmony, so messaging should be positive and not focus on negative comparisons or associations.
In other words, women form value opinions based on both emotional and rational reasons to buy. That’s why the Darth Vader spot for Volkswagen was a game changer. It spoke to both men and women about the special moments of family life yet focused on a buying feature of the car. And yes, women are the buyers of most cars too.
