Women Make the Decisions
If you are a married man living a traditional household (as I am), then you are not at all surprised by the article that eMarketer published yesterday. There are two high level take away points we need to remember:
- The women of the house make all the buying decisions.
- Women don't want to be sold by advertising but rather they prefer the opinions of their friends on buying decisions.
I can share endless stories about the purchases in my household over the last 10 years and they all end up with the same outcome. My wife always asks for my opinion but ultimately she makes the call. And truth be told, I am totally okay with that!
Now that we made these points clear, how does this affect brands in retail markets? Let's check out some points in the article: (here is the link to the full article)
According to the survey, 54% of US female internet users said they feel a responsibility to help friends and family make wise purchase decisions, and nearly half said they influence friends and family to buy—or not buy—a product or service on a regular basis. When a similar study was conducted in September 2008, only 31% of women said they felt they regularly influenced other people’s purchase decisions.
More than half felt a responsibility to help friends and family!!!! How powerful is that? Should I even continue to write this article?
In terms of talking about brands and making product recommendations on social networks, millennials appear to be standouts. Nearly half of online millennial women said they prefer shopping on the internet vs. in a store. And 51% use social networks to share commentary related to products and shopping.
This is a behavior that has been going on for centuries and has exploded since moving to social networks.
Not only are women more active now on social sites, but their likelihood to recommend and act on recommendations is growing. Even marketers who target demographics other than women should keep the female influencer in mind when developing campaigns and social media programs.
That last one may just be my favorite point. Hey Retail Brands, even if you think that I am your target audience and decision maker, guess what, you're wrong! I may act like it is my call or "what I say goes" but it's not true. And again I emphasize, I am so good with that. Who has two thumbs and is thrilled to let my wife make our buying decisions? THIS GUY!!!