My Texan born husband says, “If Texas could take a bride, it would be Colorado.” Ladies and Gentlemen, “If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female. If the business world had a sex, it would be male”, Bridget Brennan wrote in her book, Why She Buys. So what’s the big deal? Do states or economies have personalities that make them different? The answer is a big fat “YES”. And, more importantly “gender is the most powerful determinant of how a person views…
My Texan born husband says, “If Texas could take a bride, it would be Colorado.” Ladies and Gentlemen, “If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female. If the business world had a sex, it would be male”, Bridget Brennan wrote in her book, Why She Buys.
So what’s the big deal? Do states or economies have personalities that make them different? The answer is a big fat “YES”. And, more importantly “gender is the most powerful determinant of how a person views the world and everything in it.” (Bridget Brennan).
$20 Trillion, that’s how much spending women control! Women control more than 65% of global spending and more than 80% of U.S. spending. Continum writes in Fast Company Magazine that “Their economic power is truly revolutionary representing the largest market opportunity in the world.”
Let’s call a spade a spade. I mean, okay, you all get the fact that women like to buy. But, does this influence you’re behavior when you’re developing a new product, making a decision about your executive team, or your board of directors? And, why should it, right?
There are three major reasons (and lots of other damn good reasons), why it should:
1) Because women are the primary or final decision makers in most if not ALL categories. That means they buy for themselves, their men, their children. And, they want to understand and be messaged to in a way that speaks to them.
2) Because women think differently than men. Because men and women experience the world differently. Once we know that they make the decisions, we need to understand what drives them to make decisions. And, because women think differently than men, it goes without saying that their ‘drive’ is different. What motivates them is different.
3) Because of #1 and #2, the success of your company, your brand, your product is dependent on the insights and leadership which a woman brings to the table. Harvard Business Review did a study that examined men and women leaders where they examined 16 attributes. “The study found that in measuring the attributes – which included taking initiative, developing strategic perspective, driving for results and developing others – women outperformed men in all but one of the areas and significantly outperformed them in four.”[1]
Want to build your company revenues, consider how you’ve involved women in your business model? And, oh by the way, they tell all their friends about the products they use, the products they buy!
