The Power Of The Purse

Education Matters, Especially for Women

2008-05-21T15:38:25Z

Two weeks ago on May 8, I gave a speech on the global power of the purse at the Marketing to Women conference in Chicago. From what I could tell from questions from the audience, discussions afterward and the applause (thank you), it was a success. But what continues to surprise me are the frank discussions I have with women who listened to my speech and then said: I never thought of women and economics that way.

What way? I often ask. The way, they say, in which education, money, and economic independence have made us what we are today. Too often as American women, we take for granted all those foundational elements--education, the right to vote, access to capital, the right to own a business--which have made us powerful consumers, powerful voting blocks, and powerful in the country's economy. It isn't until they listen to what is happening to women in other countries that they begin to see the power of what we have in American society today--and that power isn't just about what we can buy. Indeed it is far more about what we can produce from the education that we receive.

]]> Much of our power as American women comes from our increased access to education. In The New York Times, David Leonhardt writes eloquently about a "diploma's worth."

For the whole story click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/business/21leonhardt.html?em&ex=1211515200&en=19b59e1a7d873232&ei=5087%0A

As he writes, for most of American history, education had been the birthright of men, with male-only colleges dominating for more than a century. But in the 20th century that changed as women began going to college in increasing numbers. Today, in many colleges and universities, the graduating class will be a majority of women.

A diploma's worth to a young women is the access it grants her to a world that is still off limits to women around the globe. But as I noted in my speech, that is changing as women around the world harness the power of education. And in the end, for marketers, increased education both here and around the world does actually ring up to more sales as evidenced by a new study of the country's wealthiest consumers.

According to the Luxury Institute, women are in charge of most buying decisions in wealthy households, defined as those with income of $150,000 or more. Married women in these household make two-thirds, or 64 percent, of the family purchase decisions. They make critical decisions on travel and home appliances.

Women in these households also make a majority of the investment decisions. Twenty-two percent make all of the family's investment decisions, while another two-thirds said they made their decisions jointly. Forty-six percent choose the family's bank accounts.

What is most interesting about the survey is the following: the women are spending their own money. According to the survey results, 72 percent of the women work on at least a part-time basis, while 54 percent work full time. Sixty percent earn at least $100,000 a year and one third of them hold positions at the vice president level or higher and 22 percent hold managerial positions.

Those powerful careers are driven by education, according to the institute's statistics. Eighty-eight percent of wealthy women have at least a bachelor's degree and 35 percent have a master's degree. For more information, click on www.luxuryboard.com and www.luxuryinstitute.com.

India's Women--Butterflies or Mrs. Rationalities?

2008-05-05T15:28:47Z

This week I'll be presenting at the Marketing to Women conference in Chicago and listening intently to my fellow presenters about the new tactics and strategies to reach women consumers. I'll be blogging from the conference on Thursday, May 8.

For this blog, I'll be taking yet another look at a country where women are increasingly important to their country's economy. India--soon to be the world's largest country--has boomed along with its Asian neighbor, China. And like China, its women have become a force as consumers and producers.

Technopak/The Knowledge Company, a management consulting firm, took a look at India"s most affluent consumers--a group of 280 million mostly urban-based consumers--to see what India's burgeoning middle-class consumers were buying. The company broke women consumers into three intriguing categories that show how important it is to understand women both in a global and a local context. Here is a link to the complete research article:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:u2JK9K4i8HkJ:www.ksa-technopak.com/pdf/DTC%2520Presentation%2520-%25201%2520August%25202006.pdf+india+women+and+consumers&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=79&gl=us

The "butterflies" make up 50 percent of the women in the urban affluent class. As the nickname implies these women are all about the looks. They are moving rapidly to luxury goods, especially high-tech products like cellphones and MP3 players. But the second largest group--"old luxury"--make up 32 percent and are not as much about the "bling." These women have grown up with luxury, as the report notes, and may tend toward more traditional luxury goods.

Notably, the third group is called "Mrs. Rationality," a nickname that reflects a more logical, less indulgent buying group. It would be easy to assume that affluent urban women would act and buy alike. But the differences in these three groups show how fast-paced change can shape and mold consumers in unusual ways.

]]> The "butterflies" seem to be responding to the increased influence of global culture. They are drawn to broader social and cultural trends that we already have seen in more developed countries. As Business Week pointed out, traditionally women have been considered property—first of their parents and then of their husbands. But younger generations of women are increasingly more individualistic, more financially independent--much like their counterparts in more developed countries.
Click on this link for the article:-http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_34/b3948530.htm

The group of women--the butterflies--reflects how I believe we traditionally look at consumers in less-developed countries. We believe they will adopt more "Westernized" mores and traditions as they become more globally aware. Following on from that, we believe they will be drawn to marketing and brands that show those newly found cultural values. While that is true for some groups of consumers in countries such as India and China, we must remember that not all consumers will adopt completely this globalized view.

That's why the "Mrs. Rationality" group is the most intriguing for me because it highlights the differences we can see among women in the same socio-economic class. This woman draws primarily from her traditional background. She is a saver, frugal and looking for value. She doesn't define herself through expensive goods, but instead define herself through her rational choices to create a home for her family.

Closing the Gap

2008-04-28T15:22:44Z

Recent events--the Senate filibuster of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the first-ever women's business conference in Saudi Arabia--has me pondering how far we have come and far we still have to go in recognizing the power of women on a global scale.

I won't debate the pros or cons of the Ledbetter act here. But the proposed act, which would extend the period of time a person has to sue for pay discrimination, reminded me once again of the gap between the salaries of men and women. The gap--a woman makes 77 cents for every $1 a man makes in the U.S.--remains a critical issue and not only for female employees and the companies for which they work.

It's also a critical issue for the American economy, which depends so heavily on consumers.

Consider if women, the most world's important consumers, had that extra money in their purses? How would they spend it? It might go toward a down payment on a house. It might help buy a new car or help kick start a remodeling project on a home. It is quite possible that women would save or invest those extra funds. Women tend to invest less in retirement accounts than men. Is that because they have less cushion every two weeks when their paychecks arrive?

]]> We can debate the merits or de-merits of legislation that seek to create equality and close the pay gap. But maybe instead of discussing whether such legislation would cause pay discrimination lawsuits to skyrocket, we should be discussing the long-term benefits of putting more money into women's pockets.

Not only is it equitable and just for a woman of equal education and skill to make as much as her male counterpart, it is sound business as evidenced by research that shows the fastest way to grow an economy is invest in a woman--her education most notably--because she will turn around and invest in her community and her family.

American women have shown the rest of the world just how that financial equation works. But our example isn't sterling as long as the pay gap remains.

Still more and more countries are waking up to the power of women both as consumers and producers. While Saudi Arabia has a long way to go in catching up with other countries--even compared to some of its Middle East neighbors--it is showing signs of recognizing the power of its women.

The country is hosting its first women's economic forum this week (http://www.arabianbusiness.com/517720-arab-womens-commercial-participation) to focus on women and business issues. Women are now allowed to apply for commercial licenses, but only 14 percent of businesses in Saudi Arabia are run by women and make up only 13.5 percent of the country's workforce.

Those statistics lag far behind countries such as the U.S. and those in Western Europe where women own at least one-third of businesses and more than 50 percent of the workforce is made up of women.

However, according to the director of the businesswomen's center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, women hold 35 percent of the kingdom's bank accounts. The banking industry in Saudi Arabia has taken notice and shifted its marketing to reach women investors. Several years ago, banks began offering women’s-only branches because of Saudi Arabia's strict laws that segregate men and women. Banque Saudi Fransi went so far as to create a women’s advertising campaign to reach women who were working outside the home. See this International Herald Tribune story for more details. http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/06/business/ad07.php

Saudi women also are joining the global fitness craze I touched on in my last blog post about Adidas and its focus on women in China. Health clubs such as Bally’s and Gold’s are opening up in Saudi Arabia as well. See this article in Arabian Business. http://www.arabianbusiness.com/515846-fitness-boom-set-for-ksa

We still have far to go in closing the pay gap both in the U.S. and around the world. But women are making strides even countries such as Saudi Arabia where only a few years ago women weren’t even allowed to own a business.

Holding Up Half the Sky: Women Emerge As China's Core Consumer

2008-03-25T11:56:22Z

During my travels in China in the past decade, it has been heartening to see the advancement of women in the country. Access to education and business opportunities are beginning to give Chinese women their rightful place in the country's economic expansion.

Consider a few facts from a report by Ernst & Young in 2007. According to a study from Mastercard cited in the report, young, unmarried women or married women with no children will control $260 billion in purchasing power by 2015. That is up from just $180 billion in 2005. Even elderly women who live alone will have a surprising amount of spending power--$115 billion by 2015--more than double the amount in 2005.

While 74 percent of women earn less than their husbands, an estimated 78 percent of them have control over the family's money. Married women make the decisions on what the family eats and what the family wears in Chinese households.

Even when it comes to big purchases such as cars or luxury items, a significant minority of Chinese women--23 percent--indicated that they could make those purchases on their own. This is a shift from conventional wisdom as Ernst & Young's report succinctly points out: "...general assumptions were that men being the sole or main breadwinner would also therefore act as the main decision maker when it comes to financial planning on spending."

]]> Those assumptions are being proven wrong. China's women are following the same path as women in more developed countries--we influence and control household purchases even when we are not the primary breadwinners. And our influence and purchasing power only grows as we become financially responsible for our families.

In a country that once prized savings, more and more consumers are spending greater percentages of their monthly income. Women are no exception. Sixty-five percent of female consumers spend 60 percent or more of their monthly wages. And the more women make, the more money they spend, states the report. Women who earn less often save more, while women who earn more spend more on household items and luxury goods. Such a consumption trend means that as Chinese women’s economic expansion continues, they will spend more of their paychecks as opposed to savings. However, Chinese women are mirroring their counterparts around the world when it comes to investing in their future. Investments remain high on the list of what Chinese women spend their money on.

Besides investments, what are China’s women buying--and what does that mean for companies seeking to do business in China? According to a report from the All-Women’s Federation in China, women are spending money on home purchases, white goods and children’s education expenses. Luxury goods also are high on the list for China's young urban women.

Interestingly, home purchases ranked at the top of married couples without families. Those statistics on home purchasing coincide with an article I wrote for Forbes Asia in January 2007 on B&Q, China’s largest home-improvement company. http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/0108/018.html

The firm, part of the London-based Kingfisher Group, has made great strides in understanding Chinese consumers. B&Q expects to hit $1 billion in sales in China in fiscal year 2008. Much of that revenue will be driven by women who are now setting up their own homes instead of following what has been traditional in China for centuries--moving in with their mothers-in-law.

Now married couples are moving into their own homes alone--and they need everything. Chinese apartments are built as empty shells and buyers must purchase everything from plumbing to electrical to carpet and paint. B&Q’s design service helps consumers who are China’s first generation to own their own homes. As one couple told me while shopping together at a B&Q in Shanghai, "We need everything." Note that they were shopping together as well, mirroring a U.S. trend in which couples tackle home renovation projects together.

These statistics and anecdotes may come as a surprise to outside observers. Often when I mention how far Chinese women have come, I am bombarded with questions about female infanticide, the one-child policy, sweatshop labor and slavery. Don’t get me wrong. I am not an apologist for the problems that continue to plague China and its women. Much remains to be done as is the case in every country in the world with regard to women. But economic advancement is helping women finally make good on Mao Zedong's motto: Women hold up half the sky.

In the next blog postings, I'll explore more about China’s "Pink Yuan" phenomenon and how companies are approaching this new powerful consumer. Stay tuned and let me know your thoughts.

eBrandmarketing Guest Blog...Join Us

2008-02-23T11:05:35Z

I have been blogging lately at eBrandmarketing.com. Join me there on a regular basis for more on women, marketing and the global power of the purse. http://www.ebrandmarketing.com

Some of the eBrandmarketing.com blogs will appear in this forum over the next few months, but I am working toward creating two separate blogs...but with the same end goal in mind.

I want to start a conversation about the global power of the purse. What issues are you facing as marketers in the global market? Do you recognize women as an important part of your marketing mix when you head overseas? Do you have success stories of reaching women around the world? What obstacles have you found? What would you like to know more about in terms of research and case studies?

As we head into the Marketing to Women Conference May 8-9, 2008 in Chicago, I would like to get the conversation started about the importance of the women's market globally and the economic power of women around the world.

Women and the Power of the Internet

2008-02-20T15:14:03Z

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to hear Meg Whitman, ceo of eBay, speak to a small group of women business and community leaders at The Henry Ford, museum that includes most of the major inventions of the 20th century.

As Whitman discussed the power of eBay to transform commerce, her comments reminded me of a report by The Economist in April 2006 on "womenomics." The magazine argued women--not the rise of the Internet, China or India--have been the major engines of global economic growth in the past two decades. The World Economic Forum also has found a correlation between sexual equality--as measured by economic participation, education, health, and political empowerment--GDP per head.

Here is a link to a blog on "womenomics" and pdf of the study: http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2006/04/womenomics.html.

What intrigued me about these two ideas--women and the Internet--as Whitman spoke was that The Economist may have missed a larger point. The economic equation may not be that women are more important than the Internet, China, or India in terms of economic growth, but that women have been a primary reason for why the Internet, China, and India have become so important to our global economic growth.

]]> As Whitman noted, mothers often sell online from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. while their children are at school instead of adapting their lives to a corporation. Whitman noted that 1.3 million people make enough money to support their families--or add to their incomes substantially--by selling on eBay. While it's unknown what percentage of those sellers are women, they likely make up a sizeable minority or even the majority.

The Internet, unlike many of the inventions I was surrounded by that evening--airplanes, automobiles, and steam engines--has given women a tool to create their own businesses without needing to tap large pools of capital, which is still difficult to come by for many women even in developed countries. With the Internet, all women need is some ingenuity, creativity and an Internet connection to become producers in the global economy. Finally, we have an innovation that doesn't discriminate, but instead offers women everywhere opportunities to sell what they produce to support themselves and their families.

Women also have been at the heart of growth in countries such as China and India. In China, a growing number of women are breaking free from centuries of tradition that cast them as liabilities, not assets. As they move up the economic ladder, from farm to factory to the offices and high-rises of Shanghai, Chinese women are tracing the same path--albeit far faster--than women did in America and Western Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are showing the world--and their families--that they are as important to China and the world's economy as their male counterparts. In India, women make up a sizeable population of the call center and outsourcing industries that have helped put India on the map economically. In rural areas in India, the Internet also is helping women sell what they produce around the world—directly and without having to pay a middleman.

At a time when many of us take the Internet for granted, it was inspiring to hear that Whitman still has as much passion for the technology as she did when she quit Hasbro for a job running a tiny start-up that wanted to connect buyers with sellers and vice versa. It was even more inspiring to consider that women--including Whitman--have been at the heart of making the Internet a powerful force in the global economy.

Gender "Inclusivity" and the Super Bowl

2008-02-04T14:59:36Z

Two events in the past 10 days put me in mind of gender inclusivity--an idea that I put forward in my book (www.thepowerofthepurse.com). The idea is that we have spent far too much time separating genders in our marketing efforts. That may seem strange coming from an author who writes at length about how to reach women. But sometimes--and increasingly more often with younger generations--you can succeed by reach both genders by being inclusive--as opposed to exclusive.

In late January, I spent two days with an amazing group of women as part of Yahoo!'s executive women's retreat in Key Biscayne, Fla. To protect the private nature of the event, which allowed us to speak freely about issues facing these marketers today, I'm not disclosing the names of the attendees or the companies for which they work. The women are all at the top of their games in the hospitality, pharmaceutical, financial and consumer-goods industries, to name a few.

]]> All of them are facing the same issues that marketers everywhere are: how do we use social networks to market?:how do we reach women consumers without pandering to them?; how do we break down the prejudice and stereotypes of upper management about what works in marketing and advertising?

I'll write more in future posts about all those issues and how they connect to the global "power of the purse."

But one conversation came back to me while I was watching the Super Bowl on Sunday evening. The conversation was about selling technology as gifts during the Valentine's season. We are just about a week away from the day when men wrack their brains for the right present--flowers, chocolate, jewelry?

This marketer had seen an ad from her company that made her cringe after I gave my speech to the Yahoo! group. I said "pink is an option; it"s not a marketing campaign." Later that day, she told me about a new print ad campaign her company had created to drive sales of electronics during the Valentine's shopping bonanza. She said the ad featured numerous products laid out in the shape of a heart. The main colors: pink and black.

Hard to imagine that we are still doing ads like this, right? But as many executives at the Yahoo! event noted, many of their bosses okay these types of ads because they make sense to them. They are safe, if unimaginative. They don't rock the cart and maybe they'll sell a few phones or mp3 players. How do we argue against this? I ask you--those of you who are in the trenches--how do we make our bosses understand that these ads are as likely to turn off women as they are to sell products?

I don't have a problem with pitching high-definition televisions, laptop computers, videogames and mp3s to men as gifts for the women in their lives or vice versa. In fact, I think it's a perfect acknowledgement that technology is increasingly "genderless." But why do we always default to wrapping this idea in a pink cart. That muffles the smart idea that someone inside a company had: that young women want a flat-screen television or smart phone as much as young men do

This brings me to the Super Bowl. The conventional wisdom tells us that it is a man's event--no ladies please. But even a quick straw poll or anecdotes will tell you that conventional wisdom is very wrong in this instance--and has been for years. My mother and I watched the Super Bowl together--and couldn't believe Tom Brady's performance--without any man in sight. More qualitative studies over the years have shown that the Super Bowl is less about whether men or women are watching and more about the truth that we watch the Super Bowl together with friends. We watch together--inclusivity--not the old exclusivity.

That was obvious in the ads that ran last night. From Planters with its funny ad of a not-so-attractive woman who makes men swoon with her "cashew" perfume to the Sunsilk commercials that drove women to an online site, www.lifecantwait, it's obvious that some marketers are getting the idea of inclusion, instead of exclusion. Now we just need to stop wrapping the idea in pink.

The Global Power of the Purse

2008-01-21T18:16:33Z

American women have shown the world--especially the world of business--the
power of our purses. We lead the world as the No. 1 consumers for everything from lattes at our local coffee bar to the products of global powerhouses such as Nike and Procter & Gamble.

We've also shown the rest of the world what happens when women become full-fledged participants in our country’s economy with access to education, business capital and political power.

Now we have a woman running for president and all eyes are on us--American women--again.

Over the next year, I'll explore two major topics. First, where do women stand in America? Are we moving forward or backward in pay parity? Will we or won't we vote for Hillary? How are smart marketers approaching us? I'll also be posting blogs on ebrandmarketing.com on these and other topics so look for the blog there as well as host of other great guest bloggers.

A quick aside, check out the new Volvo commercial for its sport utility. I caught it watching “Good Morning America” this morning. It shows a female cyclist powering her way up mountain passes as her family keeps her going--videotaping her ride and showing it immediately on the video screens in the car. The ad manages to show off all the options in the car, including a rear seat that folds flat so she can take a break or pile her bike and all her gear in the back, even as it makes a statement about the power of women today.

Does this ad reveal how much we’ve changed as consumers since I finished my book? For more information click on www.thepowerofthepurse.com. Or does it show that marketers are beginning to understand how to depict women--as mothers, wives, athletes--in more holistic ways even as they get their points across about their products? For Volvo, it was certainly a step forward from the brand's concept car of a few years ago with its "ponytail holder" in the headrest.

But I'm also expanding my interests and research to explore the global power of the purse. I'll be pursuing that topic in this blog and in speaking engagements this year as I pursue a new idea for a book.

Global businesses and developing countries in Asia to Africa to South America are tapping into the global power of women. This is a two-part story in my view. First, governments--particularly in developing countries--are recognizing that women can be a primary key to creating robust economies. Extensive research shows that educating a girl can lead directly to economic growth.

The other part of the story is how companies are tapping into the consumer power of women in countries such as China, India and Brazil. Indeed all around the world, companies are realizing that women--no surprise here--are the most important consumers in those countries as well. I'll start in China next week--exploring how women have become major consumers for products as diverse as cars, financial products, real estate and home improvement.

I'll look to you for ideas and suggestions--and hope to inspire all of us to catch the power in women's purses around the world.

June 12, 2007

2007-06-12T22:25:48Z

Stop the War Between Women
As I travel to Boston for a June 20 speaking engagement I am thinking of all the young women to whom I will speak and about whom I write. This is graduation season and lives are about to change and be jump started. So I ask myself what should we give these young women as they graduate and head out into life?
I'd like to propose that the best gift we can give the young women in our lives is a good example.
First, instead of picking battles with other women, pick battles that are worth fighting for. Second, remind them that there's no better time in history to be a woman.
Right now, the example we have- if we are to believe the popular media and a growing number of books about women- is that we are at war with each other and within ourselves.
If we stay at home, we backbite at the women who work. If we work, we snipe at women who spend their days being "just moms". Women who can't have children have a tough time listening to women who can- but don't want them. Women who aren't married gaze longingly over the picket fence at married women- who are wishing fervently that they had their own quiet husband- and child-free houses.
I wonder what all this arguing and angst is doing to the girls in our lives? What impression are we leaving them with when we moan about motherhood? What do they hear when we gossip about the mother who didn't bring brownies to PTA because she was working? It certainly isn't a message of optimism and hope.
And yet, shouldn't it be? If we can't celebrate where we are as American women in the 21st century and build on the social and economic power we've gained in the past 100 years, then we really are the sad and negative lot our conversations seem to indicate.
But there is much to celebrate. More women will graduate from college then men this year and for years to come. Millions of young women will enter the workforce and receive their first paycheck. Tens of thousands will buy their own homes and sign on the dotted line for an auto loan. A significant number also will become engaged, get married and start families.
Flashback 100 years ago- even 50 for that matter- and the choices were far more limited. Women got married. If you didn't, they had words for that kind of woman; the nicest of which was spinster. Remember that 100 years ago, women didn't have the right to vote so it wouldn't have mattered if we hated the candidates as much as women supposedly "hate Hillary" today.
Courageous women and men fought battles to give us choices, including the right to dislike a political candidate and then do something about it on Election Day. Where would we be economically if half of our population still didn't have the right to an education, the right to vote, the right to own a business, the right to have a bank account? Look around the world and you'll see countries that still throw up these barriers to women's progress- and their economies suffer. Research I came across while writing my book "The Power of the Purse," revealed that the fastest way to grow an economy was to educate a woman. America is a great example of that wisdom.
So shouldn't we be celebrating- and preparing our daughters and sons for the next round of positive change? There are two issues I can think of that could do with a dose of the energy we are putting into battling each other.
The class of 2007 could take up the issue of pay parity and safe, affordable day care for all children. Both issues would make families- and I define family as everyone from single people to traditional families- stronger and more capable of meeting the demands of today's globally competitive world. Add up all the 20 cents that American women aren't making today as a result of pay disparity (women now make about 80 cents to every dollar a man makes) and millions of women and families would be stronger economically.
Equitable and safe daycare helps all of us, not only parents. It gives women- and the growing number of stay-at-home dads- yet another choice in juggling the demands of work and children. It keeps smart, creative people in the workforce instead of forcing them to make tough decisions between career and family.
Neither issue is any more challenging that the battle for the right to vote or the right to work. What may be more difficult is giving up the battle women are fighting within ourselves and against each other. We can start by celebrating that millions of our daughters are graduating this summer.

Conferences and Conversations

2006-05-17T12:52:31Z

It's been a busy two weeks. It started off Friday May 5 with a speech to mark the end of ArvinMeritor's Diversity Week. If that company's name doesn't ring a bell, it may be because it's an auto parts supplier. But you probably use their products every day when you roll up a window or open your sunroof.

It was just the first in a number of encounters during the next few days that once again reminded me why we talk about women, economics, financial power and money. Even in the auto parts industry, there is growing discussion of how important women consumers are to their bottom line.

On Monday May 8, I spoke to the Marketing to Women conference about women, money and power. The audience ranged from executives at companies who are struggling to make their brands and products relevant to women all the way through to companies who get it and are looking for new ideas. It was great to see that continuum of ideas and to see and hear the conversations going on among the group.

That evening, I spoke at the Enlighten Executive Salon, a small gathering that brought together about 30 executives from Chicago businesses such as McDonald's and Northern Trust. These small groups make it easy to get into deeper conversations. And for me it was a chance to reconnect with executives at McDonald's, who I'm happy to hear continue to forge ahead with their products designed by women but sold to everyone. The conversation around our table focused on how important it is to keep the pressure on a company to support products like McDonald's premium salads. There was also discussion about how important women and their views can be inside of companies that need that extra push to do something dramatic for women consumers.

I dashed home to Michigan on Tuesday afternoon to accept the Diamond Award from the Detroit Chapter of Women in Communications. Once again, I was overwhelmed with how important it is to keep talking about the issues around women and how far we have come in the past several decades. Despite those strides, I found over those busy few days that women still don't know their own strength nor do they use it to their own advantage. I'll be blogging more about that issue in the coming weeks as well as inviting several people from my travels to join me as guests. Then in mid-June I'm off to China so look for blogs from there as well.

Repeat After Me: Womenomics

2006-05-01T20:42:50Z

Two weeks ago, one of the world's most respected business magazines, The Economist, grabbed my attention with the term "womenomics" on its cover. Inside, two articles described in detail how women are the true drivers of the growth of the global economy--outpacing even the growth of China, India and yes even the Internet--during the past two decades.

The evidence for such a statement lies in straightforward economic principles. One of the best ways to increase GDP is to employ more people in a country. For centuries, women--half the population of most countries--were simply left out of that equation. Certainly, women have always worked, but very often for no pay. That meant their input and value to the economy was invisible and uncounted.

But as women have joined the ranks of paid workers in the past half century in particular, their value in the economy is finally being noticed. And that value is immense, according to The Economist. "Arguably, women are now the most powerful engine of global growth," the magazine states boldly.

For those of us that have watched as these economic trends form and then transform society, such statements don't come as a surprise. But they do come as a welcome change in a world that too often has a tough time giving women credit for being important to the economy--beyond what they consume.

We, by we I mean the media and marketers, may be to blame for this lack of serious attention when it comes to the issue of women's importance to the economy. We have focused heavily on how to get women to buy more, shop more, spend more. We also should be focusing on how women's inclusion in the world's workforce has been transformative to the global economy.

I'm urging everyone to find the article at http://www.economist.com (April 15-21, 2006 issue) and give it a good read. It will give you great soundbites that you need in that next meeting about why women are important to your company or your readers.

But even more compelling are the statistics and evidence The Economist offers that reveals women--both as producers and consumer--are driving the world's economy. The connection between the two--production and consumption--is a major strength in this article because it gives a much truer picture of women's importance to the global economy. We aren't just consumers; we are significant producers as well.

For more stats and soundbites, read on. Next Monday, May 8, I will be speaking at the Marketing to Women Conference in Chicago and introducing that audience to this revolution called "womenomics." I'll be doing a blog from the conference so feel free to join in the discussion.

]]> More stats from The Economist's "Guide to Womenomics."

In the U.S., employment of men and women has almost reached a parity. Since 1920, women's participation in the U.S. workforce has risen from just 20 percent to close to 50 percent, while men's has dropped from 80 percent to just over 50 percent.

In developing countries such as China, women have played a big role in their countries' economic success. In East Asia, The Economist notes, for every 100 men in the labor force there are 83 women--a higher number than the OECD countries.

Since 1970, the Economist reports, women have filled two new jobs for every one taken by a man. That increased employment of women adds up to much more than what China has added to the growth of the global economy.

On the consumption side, the statistics are well known to many of us. Eighty percent of consumer goods are bought by and/or their purchase is influenced by women. But The Economist points out the work of a chief strategist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo who created a basket of 115 Japanese companies that would benefit from women's rising purchasing power. The stock prices of those companies in the past decade have gone up by 96 percent; the Tokyo stock market has risen only 13 percent. Such anecdotes show that women's consumption is essential to companies' bottom lines and to shareholders' value--something every company understands.

Stopping the Battle of the Sexes

2006-04-10T22:51:33Z

I've been struck recently by how fond men and women are of supporting the never-ending "battle of the sexes." If one gender wins, the other one must lose, or so it seems. If only we could move away from this battle and instead learn to understand and respect each other, we may find we have more in common than either gender thinks. (see Chapter 2 in my book "The Power of the Purse" for a description of how The Home Depot used this concept of similarities instead of difference to redefine its stores.)

Two readings have brought this ongoing battle to mind for me in the past few weeks. On Sunday, journalism professor Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Chalt Barnett, a senior scientist, at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University took on the "boy crisis" that seems to be gripping the nation--or at least gripping the front pages of magazines and newspapers. Rivers and Barnett are the authors of "Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs," a great read if you need some debunking of the myths surrounding men and women.

As Rivers and Barnett point out in their Washington Post article, boys were also in "crisis" more than 100 years ago. The reason: "spending too much time in school with female teachers," a relationship that was "robbing them of their manhood," write Rivers and Barnett. Fast forward to 2006 and once again women are being blamed for today's "boy crisis." Whether it's "hostile" female teachers or the fact that boys aren't "wired" to learn in the way today's education system has been constructed. Such an education system is apparently rigged to promote girls--who are supposedly outpacing boys in this "girl-centered" education system.

Rivers and Barnett go deeper to look at the statistics only to find, no surprise, that there really isn't a "boy crisis." When girls and boys of the same race and economic class are compared, there is hardly any gap in education advancement. There is a crisis in education and advancement, but it has nothing to do with gender, write Rivers and Barnett. It has everything to do with being poor and not-white. "Race and class completely swamp gender," they write. Instead of focusing on boys in crisis, we be addressing how our education system fails blacks and poor children, especially from rural areas.

This effort to go deeper beneath the surface of "facts" brings me to my other recent reading: "The Self-Made Man" by Norah Vincent, the journalist who went "undercover" as a man in hopes of better understanding them.

While by no means the perfect book, it's a worthwhile read if just for the first chapter. Vincent joins a men's-only bowling league and comes to understand these men in a way that few women would have ever been willing or able to understand men. Women (I am broadly generalizing, I know) instead like too more often harp that men don't understand us.

But women don't seem to understand men either. Moreover, it feels as if women are far less interested in understanding men and are happier being smugly superior about how well women express emotions. In giving us insight and trying to understand men is where Vincent's experiment is most useful. While by no means scientific, Vincent does get far deeper with these men as a man than she would as a woman. The bowling-league chapter shows how these men take care of each other, how they express their feelings in ways that are as individual as the men themselves, and how women miss all this because we are too busy asking why men don't understand us.

If you've read the book, I'd love to hear your thoughts--pro or con. I'll be finishing it next week and would like to have a conversation about whether Vincent's book does anything to stop the battle of the sexes.

Thoughts on Traveling

2006-04-03T14:32:50Z

Apologies for the lack of consistency in my blog of late. I was traveling in New York City, which gave me a few ideas to think about regarding the travel industry.

First, let me vent my frustration at Northwest Airlines' recent decision to charge $15 for exit rows and aisle seats. I fired off an email to Northwest about the program, dubbed CoachChoice, when the announcement arrived in my email box. I've pasted the response I received below in the "read more" entry. The response doesn't change my negative impression of this program, a practice I understand is becoming standard in the airline industry. Not only do I find paying more for a seat I've already bought egregious, I wonder how they check that the people booking exit rows can handle their duties. It used to be you had to book exit rows at check-in so the gate agents could visually assess whether you could handle opening and then tossing away a 40-pound door.

Once again, an airline has shown that it is willing to frustrate and anger passengers to make more money. But I wonder just how much money Northwest will make on this venture given that as my email responder notes that only 5 percent of domestic seats will be saved for the CoachChoice program. Northwest likely has spent a good sum on the marketing campaign and trademarking the name "CoachChoice." I wonder if they will make up that money on the funds they receive from passengers who are willing to pay extra. I'm not the only media person peeved. In the "Checklist" section of Newsweek's Tip Sheet for the week of April 3, 2006, the editors told readers to avoid Northwest. Their tip: "book early, or on another carrier." If Northwest wanted to charge more for something, why not offer me better food to buy on the flights. The $1 bag of trail mix is getting old and the box lunches leave much to be desired. I have to assume that there's a food brand out there looking for a great way to market their products to a captive audience.

While these frustrations of mine aren't confined to women, I do think it points to a trend that many in the travel industry haven't seen or, if they have, they don't understand all that well. Women are increasingly an economic force in the travel industry--and they are making their wants and needs heard. Just a decade ago, women business travelers were a tiny minority; today more than half of business travelers are women. Women also make up the majority of purchases of hotel rooms and airline tickets. With the advent of the online booking, many women have taken over the role of travel agent for their families. In travel, I've found at least for myself, that it's the small things that can really make a difference in whether I choose an airline or hotel more than once.

But I find only a few companies have really understood women travelers and their importance in the role of booking travel--even if they aren't the ones doing the travel. Hotel company Wyndham certainly made strides with its focus on women, although some of their efforts fell flat with me. The offering of a women's only floor raised my eyebrows. But I know that a group of women do want that feeling of security so I applaud those efforts. I do like their personalization efforts that give me the option of what kind of treats I want delivered to my room.

But as my book points out, women change quickly and I suspect that younger generations of women will be less interested in a women's only floor and far more taken by free wireless Internet service, docking devices for their iPods so they can listen to their own music and plasma screen televisions. I suspect these wants aren't that different from what men want in a room.

The hotel chain Kimpton seems to be getting this idea of the "small things count." Many hotel chains have focused on what now feels like "bed envy." It seems every chain has some version of Westin's heavenly bed. But Kimpton has made an effort not to be a copycat--even of its own existing hotels. They strive to keep their hotels different from each other. Some focus on health--offering wheat grass drinks at its Topaz Hotel--while its Hotel Helix gives out chocolate YooHoo and Twinkies (http://www.wsj.com "Kimpton Checks in Between Boutiques and Hotel Giants). But travelers know that while the goodies may be different in every hotel, the same level of service will be offered.

I could certainly go for Yoohoo and Twinkies on a long Northwest flight. But for now, I'll have to remember to book early or as Newsweek succinctly put it choose a different carrier.
Read more for the text of Northwest's answer to my query on CoachChoice. I'll be back on Friday.

]]> Thank you for contacting Northwest Airlines. In your email you shared
your concerns regarding our Coach Seat program. On behalf of Northwest
Airlines, we sincerely regret any disappointment this has caused you.

Coach Choice is a test product and only 5% of domestic coach seat
assignments will be saved for Coach Choice which is available at time of
check-in for $15 per segment. These domestic Coach Choice seats are
primarily a combination of exit row and aisle seats. Transatlantic and
Transpacific flights are not included in the Coach Choice program.

I understand your frustration over the realization that seat selection
is no longer governed strictly by "first come, first served". For
customers without seating preferences, Ms. Warner, approximately 95% of
the seats will remain free of charge. Beginning 90 days prior to flight
departure date, passengers can continue to select their seat assignments
online from the "My Seat Selection" page, call our Reservations office
at 1-800-225-2525, or obtain seats at the airport when they check in at
the Self Service Device (SSD).

Ms. Warner, thank you for contacting us. We are glad that you allowed us
the opportunity to further explain our position. We look forward to
the continued privilege of serving your air travel needs.

From Spinsters to Solo-ists: A Talk with Andrea Learned

2006-03-17T11:39:54Z

This week I begin an occassional series where I ask an author, marketing executive, politician...or consumer to join me on the blog for a chat.

Today Andrea Learned discusses her growing interest in "solohood." This trend goes by many names. Just a few decades ago, we still used the word "spinster" to define women who had actively chosen not to be married. Then it was the "single woman."

But "solohood" fits better because for one thing it's not gendered. It also comes with few roles and stereotypes--it's a blank slate upon which we can write new ways of living. Plus it allows everyone in from young women who are choosing to not marry--although they may be in committed long-term relationships--to widows and divorced women.

For marketers, "solohood" is a huge opportunity. But only if they get the idea that these women--and yes men--require a different attitude toward them. The world is no longer one big happy nuclear family--no matter how much some people try to take us back to a time that frankly most historians think never really existed. Today the concept of family is expanding--and that's a great thing.

So welcome Andrea, author of "Don't Think Pink." You can catch her blog at http://learned.typepad.com/.

FW: Not too long ago, single women were painted with the brush of "spinsterhood" if they hadn't married. Today, solo women are growing force in the economy and society. What is driving this shift from "singlehood" being a negative to solo being such a positive?

AL: Solo women are newly empowered. We have the choice to not marry or simply marry later. Divorce rates are higher (for a variety of reasons), and women are no longer rushing to remarry. And, rather than resigning themselves to traditional, isolated or inactive widowhood, women who lose their husbands in their more senior years are now more actively living the extra 7-8 years of life they tend to have over men.

Today, self-reliant single women can more easily climb a corporate ladder, commit to as much higher education as they desire, and basically live lives full of experiences for themselves. They are not waiting for "Mr. Right" in order to get on with life. They buy homes at almost twice the rate of single men, and they have no problem traveling alone. Though it is by no means fun, solo women have more of the support and tools to raise kids alone, as well.

Read the rest of interview. I know in the blogosphere this is a long blog--but Andrea has great things to say about the myths of single women and the brands that are beginning to understand "solohood."

]]> FW: Do you think companies get the idea of solo women? If so, what industries are doing the best job and who still hasn't gotten it?

No, I don't think companies understand solo women very well. When companies start to think about marketing to women more effectively, their first thought seems to be "moms," which definitely makes sense to some degree because almost ¾ of adult women are moms. However, just as the business world has narrowed its focus from "all women everywhere" to "all women who are wives/moms," it can also take a closer look at the influential solo women segment as well (some of whom are also moms, of course.)

In their recently published book, "What Women Really Want," pollsters Celinda Lake and Kellyanne Conway note that one-third of American women are unmarried, forming their number one trend for women: "singular sensations." How these women buy and choose to live has an influence on the gamut of product and service sales, as well as politics and more.

But that one-third of women - the consumer group that makes or influences the purchase of 80% of consumer goods in the U.S. today - are having trouble finding brands that understand them. With children or without, unmarried women are driving sales in industries from residential real estate to home repair, travel, financial services and beyond.

As I survey solo women across the country, Trader Joe's grocery chain, with their natural food leanings and smaller portion packaging, is often mentioned as a favorite. In the financial realm, Women's Financial Network www.wfn.com was among the first to focus on women, and it now offers a variety of what are called "S.T.E.P.S." programs, including two that specifically address "dealing with divorce" or "losing a spouse."

Retirement community developers are beginning to provide more creative/community-based living options for an aging population that is increasingly female.

We are still awaiting the day that the car or boat salesperson, for example, doesn't look over a woman's shoulder to find her husband. There aren't, as yet, that many brands that have really dialed into this particular segment of the women's market. But, the smart ones should be studying up on solo women and their new definitions of family, healthier lifestyles, spiritual pursuits, and general life empowerment.

FW: The rise of the single women isn't an American phenomenon. It's a global sensation. Can you give some examples of countries where solo women are breaking the rules of their societies?

AL: Japan is a big one. They have a higher percentage of single women between 20 and 40 than the U.K. or the U.S. A commonly used term for single women in that country is "wagamama," which actually means "selfish." But these women embrace their independence and self-focus, and are slowly re-defining wagamama to mean more empowering "choosy." Citigroup, a brand that has been at the forefront of marketing to women in the U.S., is also really tapping into the single women's market in Japan.

If the ways of the U.S. still lead other westernized cultures, my guess would be that single women greatly affect consumer trends in cities from Stockholm to Paris to Santiago. I will definitely be doing more research on this.

FW: Do you believe single women recognize their power?

AL: Younger single women may recognize their power and use it, because many of them were raised by working or more independent moms, who were themselves transitioning from the ways they learned from their own traditional mothers. So, younger women could easily see the "newer" ways of women and men – and not be stuck in old "rules."

However, older Baby Boom and mature/senior solo women grew up in such different times that their habits of behavior more likely stem from living in a more patriarchal society. As I've talked with solo women who are 40+, however, I have really seen evidence of a gaining momentum toward greater independence in life, work, travel and beyond.

FW: What is the biggest myth about single women? Two I can think of are that these women "hate" men that we can't get someone to marry us...maybe, just maybe, we like being single!

AL: You are right – that seems to still be the biggest myth. In general, unmarried women today are in no way sitting at home alone, thinking "woe is me." The opposite seems to be true. On the whole, the solo women I'm talking with now, and those interviewed for recently published books like The New Single Woman, by E. Kay Trimberger, QuirkyAlone by Sasha Cagen, as well as the one I mentioned earlier, What Women Really Want, expressed contentedness, if not full-on happiness, in their largely thriving lives of rewarding work and experiences.

Friendships or relationships with men are in and around these women's lives in all the usual ways, definitely, but there is less and less of a drive to partner up. Even women who are in long-term relationships of some sort, are choosing to maintain separate households, for instance, in order to keep their cherished independence. Women are staying single by choice, and choice is not a negative or anti-male thing.

The tide has simply changed, and while men may still thrive when they are married, studies have shown (again, as reported in What Women Really Want) that "women tend to be happier and more successful and live longer when they're single."

Celebrating International Women's Day with My Long-Promised Power of the Purse Blog

2006-03-09T15:38:38Z

Welcome. Maybe it's because I've written about marketing and advertising too long that I believed I needed a reason to launch my blog. So I decided that during a month that celebrates women it was about time I launched my blog. I'll write about trends in women's economic power that inspire me...or make me angry...more on that below. I'll highlight marketing efforts that I think are good...and those I think miss the mark. I hope to hear from you as well about these topics or ones that you want to discuss with other readers of the blog.

So to begin. Just one day into Women's History Month and already there was "bad news" about women's progress on the job front in the pages of The New York Times. The headline read: "Stretched to the Limit, Women Stall March to Work." (www.nytimes.com) The text of the story outlined research showing that while women have made great progress in entering the workforce - 75 percent of women ages 25-54 work or are looking for work up from 40 percent in the 1950s according to the story - even greater progress on women going to work is stalling.

]]> One reason offered is research shows women still do the majority of the work of tending house and raising children, leaving less time for career advancement. The research also appears too show that the pressures of juggling career and family are forcing some women to choose between the two roles. The number of women entering the workforce has flattened out in the past several years. This isn't a new phenomenon. A few years ago, the Times ran a story about the "opt-out revolution" that highlighted a so-called trend of highly educated women choosing being a wife and a mother over a career.

I have struggled to understand what these statistics really mean and what action they require from us as women as well as from society as a whole. Choosing between motherhood and a career or job isn't an easy choice. Most women end up doing both because they must. Opting-out isn't an option for families that need two incomes to support their families.

More important, I believe, is that work is both a financial and emotional imperative for women. Women who "opt-out" of working lose valuable investments in retirement and Social Security benefits - a loss that I think many women don't factor into their decision to take time off. Moreover, we can't afford to lose women's voices inside of business organizations either as voices that inspire new ways of working or pushing for institutional change that will make it possible for everyone - men and women - to take more active roles in being parents and spouses. The emotional reward of work also can't be overstated - if it isn't overshadowed by the grind of juggling a career and family. So what is the answer? For me, a beginning would be to make the choice to work and raise a family easier for both men and women. We need better childcare and even more flexible work initiatives so choosing both a family and career is the option we want - not the option that leaves us tired, frustrated and facing the "opt-out" question. What do you think? What would make your life of work, family, life easier? Do you think it's a problem you have to solve alone or something that society must address?

I'll be back next week with more on the power of the purse. Look for a discussion of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her discussion of her plans to get Michigan moving. She gives a lot of credit to what she considers women's ability to "get things done." I also managed to follow through on my plan to get a copy of my book into her hands.