A study of the University of Duisburg-Essen came to the conclusion that women are becoming more and more important to car manufacturers. The share of women who bought a car rose to 34 % during 2010 and a further rise to 40 % by 2020 is expected.
Has the car market for a long time been male dominated and one of the last retreat areas of macho culture , times are changing now – and they are changing very fast. Therefore one should also have a look on other sectors of economy.
In September 2009 the Harvard Business Review titled “The Female Economy”. According to this article, women are a huge growth market. The overall income of women will rise from 13 trillion dollar in 2009 to 18 trillion dollar in 2014 what is an increase of nearly 40 %! Together, women are a growth market twice as big as China and India together. Further, the article reported that “women make the decision in the purchase of 94 % of home furnishings…92 % of vacations…91 % of homes…60 % of automobiles…51 % of consumer electronics.” So, women are the most important target group for most companies.
But do the companies understand how to address female consumers? In the past, “make it pink” , seemed to be their recipe to meet the needs of women. According to the Harvard Business Review article, many companies don’t even try to satisfy the needs of their female consumers. „Companies continue to offer them poorly conceived products and services and outdated marketing narratives that promote female stereotypes.“
In order to stay competitive, companies will have to understand the needs of women. And who could better understand these needs than women themselves?
