How Women Are Changing Retailing

July 21, 2010

Interview with Paco Underhill, author of the book What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female Friendly

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Mike Carruthers:
There’s always been this image that men buy guy stuff like lawn mowers and home improvement items. And women buy female stuff like cosmetics and clothes.

Paco Underhill:
There is certainly a line there but it is increasingly fuzzy. We know for example that women are driving the 5 billion dollar home improvement business.
 

Paco Underhill, author of the book What Women Want, says things are changing in the world of retail because women status is changing.

Women outnumber men in institutions of higher learning almost 2 to 1. We passed over a magic moment in 2005 where if you were 30 years old, female, employed, working in a major city across the country you out earned your male counterpart by more than 20%.

How can businesses be more female consumer friendly?

First is staff it with female employees because if you’re trying to sell products to women they want to be respected and acknowledged and not talked down to. They respond to good lighting, they respond to natural fibers and fixtures.

Female consumers clearly have a lot of clout.

The organic markets, the exploding growth of our farmer’s markets are all based on female interest.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here