Women: Growing Market & Key Sustainable Consumers
Two women’s market-related bits I’ve come across lately, and in which I see an overall theme,… so read on:
1) Women are, we really mean it, an emerging market (how long can they be emerging and not just be “here” as a market?) – but one thing did filter through research covered by Newsweek to catch my jaded eye. This is something that should really move your women’s market focus to the tippy top of the priority list. The Newsweek quote, and note my bolded emphasis:
The rise of women as a grand, cross-border emerging market could have implications as profound as the rise of India and China. There’s a wide body of research to suggest that women’s spending patterns may be exactly what the world needs at this moment. “Economists have studied how women spend in comparison to men, and they tend to spend more on things that are linked to people’s well-being, like health and education. They also tend to save more, and exhibit less risky financial behavior,” notes Yassine Fall, senior economic adviser for UNIFEM, the U.N. agency dedicated to women.
2) A recent GreenBiz article points to the fact that corporate America has doubled its adoption of “green” practices. The accompanying chart shows that the biggest influencer is a very traditional, hard line, business reason: energy/cost savings. (A ha! So, “green” isn’t just a touchy feely granola thing?) But, even more, when I look at the whole list of reasons corporations are deciding to pay more attention to sustainability, another point jumps out. And, it takes me back to item #1 of this post. Customer need (for seeing a corporation become more sustainable), talent acquisition and staff retention are all very significant influences on corporate sustainability, which is included in an overall more socially responsible organization (i.e. being aware of people’s well-being in addition to profits). And, many of the other reasons can be tied back – if slightly less directly – to consumers taking a deeper look from their human perspective. This makes a ton of sense and – to me – reflects a lot of demand by the world’s toughest customers: women. They are putting their money where their values are, and corporations must respond.
Women are a growing market, but this is not news. That research ties their spending power more directly to products/services having to do with people’s well-being is. If women are motivated by the well-being of themselves, the planet and those around them, a continuing move by corporations toward more sustainable and socially responsible practices should be a priority. That they get energy/cost savings, good PR and the rest of it, on the side, is the gravy.
