Women a Prime Market for Many Companies

Aug. 18, 2000 -- 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.

Though many companies in those traditionally male-centered industries are tapping into the female market, marketers say they are also mindful of sending a message that is inclusive, not patronizing.

Harley Davidson, which has seen sales of its motorcycles to women rise to 8 percent from 2 percent 10 years ago, has accommodated the growing interest among female motorcyclists by offering an extensive line of women’s cycling gear and bikes that are designed to fit women’s bodies.

“Surveys we’ve done of women currently involved in motorcycling show that they don’t want a pink motorcycle,” says Harley Davidson spokesman Steve Piehl. “They want to have the vehicles and the products that allow them to be active in the sport.”

Born to be WildAnd rather than advertise in women’s magazines, Piehl says Harley Davidson is reaching out to women through company-sponsored events and introductory riding classes at dealerships. Piehl estimates women make up about half of the company’s introductory classes.

Toyota, on the other hand, earmarks 55 percent of its media budget to target women, a group that represents 56 percent of the automaker’s sales. But since about half of the company’s customer base has been women for the past eight or nine years, marketing to women has been a mainstay of Toyota’s marketing efforts for a while.

“We’ve recognized that women are a huge part of our buying populous over a long period of time,” says Toyota spokesman Mike Michels, adding that targeting any demographic group requires a balancing act. “It’s very important not to appear to patronizing or kind of obviously going after any segment, whether it’s young males or baby boomer females.”

Home improvement Mecca Home Depot also has a clientele that’s about 50 percent women, but a company spokesman says the statistic reflects more of the growing interest in home improvement in recent years rather than any conscious efforts to reach out to female do-it-yourselfers. The store also offers do-it-yourself classes, which have seen heavy interest from women.

“We’ve just made [home improvement] as easy as possible for everyone and not held up any barriers of any sort,” says Home Depot spokesman Jerry Shields.

Taking the Financial ReignsOther companies, like Charles Schwab, are aggressively going after women in an area where they see a great need: financial services.

Schwab spokeswoman Sarah Bulgatz estimates 80 percent of women will beresponsible for their finances at one time or another in their lives, aresponsibility many are unprepared for.

To fill the information void, Schwab began a women’s initiative about two years ago. The program educates women about financial matters through investment seminars, sponsorship of events and strategic alliances — all designed to give women financial information.

Schwab plans to expand its women’s initiative this fall, though Bulgatz declined to give details about the expansion.

“Women have some special financial needs, because they live longer onaverage, they earn less, they spend less time in the workplace and because they’re jumping in and out to take care of children and elderly parents,” says Bulgatz.

“There’s so much info out there now about investing and a lot of people don’t know how to take the first step, so we really want to help with that,” she adds.