Turning Female Friendly…

Today, a review of a new book with some of my own thoughts on the subject.
The book, recently released, is by Paco Underhill. Mr. Underhill is one of the great observers of the American consumer in the retail setting. The title of his new work is,
What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female Friendly.

Why is it so important to focus on the female consumer? The answer is that more of the economic power has shifted to her. More women are the head of households…with the roots of this change going back to the women’s lib days of the early 70’s.

So what do women want? What is the big idea or lesson from this work? Underhill cites four aspects that relate to the female consumer that retailers and businesses need to consider..and they are: CLEANLINESS; CONTROL; SAFETY; AND CONSIDERATENESS. Underhill cites many business examples as to how various businesses are succeeding with the female consumer based upon these aspects. Let’s take a quick closer look.

CLEANLINESS… certainly Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame had this right when he put this into his winning business formula. Bathrooms; grills, everything must shine. Think about Lowes vs. Home Depot…based upon a clean environment, which store do you think attracts the female consumer?

CONTROL…women for a long time have dealt with this issue as they are physically not as powerful as men (generally speaking). Men control through power and women can gain control in other ways, often through finesse. Stores can give control to women such as privacy in the pharmacy line where other customers are asked to stand away. Power can come in the form of more choice and options giving a perception of power. How can you give more power to your female customer?

SAFETY…while we are all concerned about safety, again, women have less physical control over their safety so it needs to be a consideration. Signage and store voices over the P.A. should depict women or use their voices so they feel safe. Parking lots with good lighting; valet services; store cameras; all are part of the safety program. Aside from personal safety, women will want to feel safe in the products they use for instance, so conducting classes at Lowes on the use of power tools is another form of safety training. Also, consider that there is safety in numbers. How can groups of female customers be put together…for education, for discussion etc.

CONSIDERATENESS…We can define this in a number of ways. Service is an important aspect of considerateness; empathy being a part of the service quality. Understanding what is precious to the consumer and taking that into account…from their children to time. It is considerate to make things easy to use; to assure success with the product; to give the consumer exactly what she wants (customization); to account for and cater to their differences from men.

What Women Want….time to order your copy and find out before the competition does!

Jeff Heilbrunn, July 2010