The Washington Post reports on how electronics retailers are reaching out to women consumers, hoping to expand beyond the male shopper base that traditionally has driven the category. Apparently it is a matter of coming up with a sales staff that is in touch with what women want, redecorating the store so that the color scheme is more pleasing to a feminine mindset, and trying to be more cognizant of style issues that appeal to women.
Mary Lou Quinlan, author of "Just Ask A Woman -- Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy,” tells the Post, "Guys walk around tech stores like they're in a porno shop looking for the fastest, newest, coolest, first-on-the-block thing, while women would rather shop in a calmer, information-based environment for products that will simplify their lives.”
Mary Lou Quinlan, author of "Just Ask A Woman -- Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy,” tells the Post, "Guys walk around tech stores like they're in a porno shop looking for the fastest, newest, coolest, first-on-the-block thing, while women would rather shop in a calmer, information-based environment for products that will simplify their lives.”
- KC's View:
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While we agree with the notion that stores have to adjust their approaches in order to appeal to people with different demographics and psychographics, there’s something about this story – probably the clichéd characterizations - that we find mildly offensive.
We happen to be male, and not only have we never cruised an electronics store like it is a porn shop, but we always look for easy-to-use products that have clear applicability. There’s no time for anything else.
Not only that, but we know plenty of women who are far more into gadgets for gadgets’ sake than we are.
Targeted marketing is eminently sensible. But human targets, unlike the kind that hang on walls or trees, are rarely like neatly drawn concentric circles that are easy to define and aim at. They are far more complicated, require far greater insight, and are much more complicated to hit.
Though the rewards, when successful, can be significant.
