The Venus Report - THE FEMALE SHOP NEVER STOPS

Monday, August 27, 2007

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A few years ago, some enlightened US marketer drew a map of the different journeys undertaken by men and women shopping for a pair of jeans. See diagram below.

The male journey was direct, under 10 minutes and made in a linear fashion. Coincidentally, a lot of modern agency strategy planning takes this linear view to the buying cycle:

Trigger > Consider > Search > Choose > Buy > Experience

The female journey on the other hand was complex, retraced steps, explored many options and retailers, took a long time and then an outcome was made.

The amount spent by a woman versus a man, speaks for itself.

While there is always going to be a starting trigger or need that initiates the process, and a purchase made which concludes it, what happens in between is far less predictable, linear, or sequential.

Along the journey to purchase, a female may revise her thinking at any time.

She’ll touch it first and feel it, them pick it up, put it down again.
Move three metres and go through the same rituals, come back to it, try it on.
Research, phase one complete. (To be repeated many more times on many different occasions.)
Go to a new store.
Begin research phase two, three and four.
Have new doubts and return to phase one again.
And that’s just research. The decision to move from research to purchase could take 5 seconds, 5 days or 5 months.

Yes, the female process of making decisions is organic.

Women do "shop" for pleasure and for leisure. However, their functionality shopping is always undergoing review.

As part of female behaviour, notes and reviews are exchanged often and regularly amongst others.

Word of mouth, personal recommendation and the Internet or other quick-research methods will have played a big part in her loyalty to your brand.

Traditional forms of advertising will have played a major role of course. Moreover, they are often responsible for getting the personal "board of directors" endorsing a woman’s ongoing relationship with your brand by keeping it in the awareness.

If a woman has a wonderful first hand experience with your brand she’ll tell 5 of her "board of director" friends.

But if a woman has a bad experience with your brand she will tell that anyone that will listen. This is her way of purging the toxic experience from her world and protecting others from the same experience.

There are scientific explanations for this behaviour, and physiological reasons for the differences between the way men and women’s brains process information on purchasing decisions.

Because of the organic nature that drives this female behaviour, it may seem frustrating to the Marketer trying to attract or retain their consumer.

It certainly keeps Marketers on their toes, because this reinforces the adage that "everything matters."

And making an effort with her, respecting her, talking to her, LISTENING to her, creating trust with her, empathising with her are just the beginning.

Just because she bought yesterday, or is not in the market, don’t assume she’s not paying attention to your communications. Remember, her decision making process is never complete, and her radar is always on.

In the world where she can, and will, review your brand and it’s place in her life constantly, keeping up with her needs is imperative.

Remember, she controls the lions share of the average household budget, are a lot of places and products for her to spend it.

What is your brand doing to get on, and stay on, her list?

Sunday, August 26, 2007 6:18:45 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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