Paying lip service to the female purchaser

What is the attitude of your staff towards women? Are there a few men with a slightly patronising manner? Are they the “friendly” type who call women “sweetie” or “darling”? Is your sales staff geared up to focus on males? Do they pay lip service to the female purchaser? If yes, you have a problem on your hands.

Any company selling products and services to households or businesses had better come to terms with a major new reality. Women are big decision makers and big spenders. They don’t just control the purse strings at home but also increasingly at the office. In fact, they are the major decision makers in many purchasing decisions.

Take SmartCompany. Our new research conducted on almost 1,500 of our readers, shows that most of our readers are business owners, directors and senior managers in small and medium enterprise – which we knew. What was a surprise is that about 40% of our readers are women, which I think is a first in Australian business journalism. Most sites only have 20-30% female readership.

That in itself reveals that there are a growing number of females who are entrepreneurs, directors, chief executives and general managers in the SME sector.

But how about this? We asked our readers about how much influence they have in purchasing decisions. For many categories the number of men and women with total influence over purchasing decisions for their business were exactly the same. For example, 44% have total influence in marketing decisions and the figures were similar for business flights, business accommodation and office equipment and supplies.

Female influence fell a little when it came to computer hardware and software and financial services. For example, 43% of our male readers had total influence when deciding on financial services compared to 39% of female readers, while 44% of male readers had total influence on computer hardware and software compared to only 37% of our female readers.

But even so, that’s a hell of a lot of women running businesses who employ staff and have a total say over what is bought and from whom.

A report from Boston Consulting Group says global research indicates women currently control spending of around $US12 trillion and this will climb by $5 trillion over the next five years.

In Australia, spending by women is expected to rise 48% to $222 billion over the same period.

The Boston Consulting research also pointed out that the average Australian respondent felt least understood by financial services companies, car companies, insurance companies and medical professionals. This creates a huge opportunity for those companies to get it right.

And the first place they should start is with their staff. Nothing puts women off more than sales staff who either ignore them or patronise them. But don’t stop there. In the hiring process I would be looking out for staff who are interested in the female market, see its huge potential and can get the marketing, positioning, packaging, brand and communication right. Those who pay lip service to the female dollar will find their days numbered.

Have your say on our forum hot topic of the week: Are companies responding to the female dollar or merely paying lip service? Make sure you log in to leave your comments.