Follow the money - follow women - stupid

If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female. If the business world had a sex, it would be male. Therein lies the pickle.

So starts an article in the McKinsey what matters publication. I guess that says it all.

To add a bit more detail - quote from the article:

The biggest difference in how men and women view the shopping experience comes down to this fact: in virtually every society in the world, women have primary responsibility for both children and the elderly.

They look at shopping as part of their caregiving role in the family and household. This means that women are buying on behalf of everyone in their lives, and as a result they are constantly considering the needs of others when they shop — even when they are shopping for themselves. If a mother is standing in a grocery aisle choosing ingredients to cook for dinner, she may think, “I’m going to go through a lot of trouble to make this, so it better be something everybody likes.” Or if a woman is buying a shirt for her father’s birthday, she may think, “I hope it fits, because if he doesn’t, I’m the one who has to go back to the store to return it.”

They are constantly considering the implications of their purchases in terms of other people’s wants and needs.

Generally speaking, men typically do not have the role of primary shopper for their households, and so they tend to view shopping in a more transactional manner. 

The implications of this simple observation are huge as is my view that "women do ageing better than men". That is why I nearly always include this picture in my presentations. Dick Stroud