Women a Prime Market for Many Companies

Aug. 18 -- Dee Dee Dochen is the kind of consumer many companies are trying to attract.

Dochen, a 45-year old single woman who runs her own public relations and marketing firm in Houston, purchased her own home for the second time a year ago. Now she is consumed by all things home improvement.

Shortly after closing the purchase, Dochen and a date capped off a lovely dinner out by browsing the aisles of home improvement mega store Home Depot together at 11 p.m.

Her family helped her celebrate the new house by buying her a drill, a ladder and a fire extinguisher. Dochen says she’s so enamored of investing in her new home that she hasn’t bought any newclothes since last fall.

“If you’d have told me five years ago that I would love owning a drill over a pair of shoes, I would have thought you were crazy,” says Dochen.

Dochen’s story reflects what many market researchers say is the key target market of the new decade: the single woman. Women are living longer, making more money than ever and putting off marriage until a later age or not marrying at all — putting them in the driver’s seat when it comes to making major purchases like homes or automobiles, which have traditionally been the domain of men.

Yuppies of the New MillennuumA recent report from marketing research firm the Intelligence Factorycompares the influence of single women on today’s consumer market to the influence yuppies had in the ’80s. Though single women are adiverse group, difficult to pigeonhole, the report says they share some common traits — they’re information savvy, seek out relationships of quality and are deeply influenced by the advice of friends and confidants.

“The basic idea is that women are streaming into these areas that they have traditionally not been involved in, like financial services, cars, real estate and business travel,” says Danielle Blumenthal, vice president and editorial director at The Intelligence Factory.