Marketing to women – old and young

Saatchi & Saatchi has research showing that consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers are annually missing out on £600m of sales because they are failing to connect with women

Thirty-five per cent of female internet users polled said they would increase their spending on consumer electronics if marketers and retailers thought harder about how they approach them and offered more guidance in stores and on e-commerce sites.

A staggering one in two women said they walk out of shops and leave websites without buying anything because they’re unable to find what they want. A third of women do not feel confident enough to ask questions in stores with one respondent describing electronics retailers as reeking of a “strong scent of man”.

And so the sorry tale goes on. This story reminded me that one of the biggest gripes that older people have about the mobile phone industry - the intimidating retail experience of the high street mobile phone store. In this case it is a strong scent of young men.

On the same subject of marketing women (especially of the older variety) there is an excellent article by Dori Molitor that talks about the failure of companies like Gap and American Airlines to turn their good intentions to improve their attractiveness to women shoppers into a reality.

It seems that marketers have a lot to learn about marketing to women – old and young. Dick Stroud