Women Say Advertisers Just Don’t ‘Get’ Them

Media Post Publications makes a resonating point in its article “Moms Say Advertisers Don’t Get Them”

This group represents 44 percent of the women’s market, but accounts for 55 percent of spending on consumer electronics; 51 percent of spending on food; 49 percent of spending on health & beauty aids; 48 percent of spending on home furnishings, and 47 percent of spending on clothing.

Further, the article points out that only 20% of moms feel like advertisers connect with them. Wow!

I spent the weekend talking with other mom and women that I know, asking them what kind of things they buy online. When I called one of my friends, she was actually at the Macys.com site at that moment, looking at some “cute tops” that she had just recommended to a friend who shops online on a regular basis.

Some things these moms bought online were:

• Clothes (for kids and for themselves)
• Books (for kids and for themselves)
• Kid’s educational software
• Kid’s party supplies (matching plates, cups, decorations)
• Halloween costumes
• Toys
• Groceries
• Holiday and birthday gifts

It makes sense. Women are responsible for a majority of the household shopping and buying online is the ideal way to get the most selection and the best value and best value. When I lived in an area that supported it, I spent $200 at Albertson’s grocery store every 2 weeks like clockwork.

Another thing I always buy online, are gifts. This year, I’ve purchased a bonsai tree, a Build-a-Bear, a Nintendo DS, microwavable slippers, a CD player, magazines, and lots of books online for gifts because it’s so much easier for the company to gift wrap them and send them out than for me to have to do this.

Most people who aren’t responsible for the household shopping and gift-giving don’t realize just how time consuming this process is. If you’re thinking “waaa-get over it,” then you’re one of those marketers/retailers that DON’T GET IT.

The article also states that “most moms–67%–would rather get information from a peer than a celebrity mom.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how important this was.

I think everyone is more likely to make purchases based on a recommendation verses and ad; it’s just that women tend to talk on the phone and in person about things that they purchased more often.

The effect of this word of mouth is staggering. I recommended the Leap Frog Phonics videos to a friend I hadn’t spoken with in months within 10 minutes of our conversation. The next time I talked to her, she told me that she had purchased the videos. The reason I knew about and own the 3 phonic videos is because another friend recommended to me. There is also a math video in that series that I don’t have because my friend said that it wasn’t as good as the others were and that her daughter was bored.

Great! Now I can spend my money on kids educational CDs that my other friend recommended when I was picking up my daughter from a slumber party the other day. Thinking back other products/companies we recommended to each other during that pickup were Scholastic (we both had recently purchased books and I told her about their great-value encyclopedias) and Oriental Trading Company (kid’s crafts). Now I have the Oriental Trading Company catalog coming to my home and am getting ready to place an order.

Social media is the future of this kind of success online. Building communities around products can be a huge influence on sales.