?Car badi ho gayi hai, aur beti bhi?. This punchline of an HDFC Standard Life Insurance advertisement, showing a young, working girl prodding her father to change his old car and signing a cheque for the new buy, represents a clear shift of target audience. The stereotypical son has been replaced by a daughter, who not just knows how to manage finances well, but more importantly, is ready to shoulder the responsibilities of her ageing parents. The girl in the advertisement may well be the exception in our still largely patriarchal society, but coming from a big advertiser, it speaks of Indian marketers? changing perception about working Indian women?from mere influencers in big purchases to big consumers themselves.
Not yet convinced? Consider the Taaza Ho Le ad, which creates an aspiration for women to find their true ?professional? calling. Or the Clinic Plus ad targeting the time-strapped working mothers with a hair care formula that claims to be a perfect substitute for all the endless efforts that the generation before invested to get long, beautiful hair. Or maybe the ICICI Jeete Raho promo where the lady of the house (with candid financial prowess) convinces her husband to get insurance.
?The gender inequality that existed in Indian marketing is changing. The brand of tea that showed a woman returning from work and having a cup of tea prepared by her husband was the precursor of it all. And today, automobiles, computers and more are focusing on the working woman,? says brand expert Harish Bijoor.
The trend has caught on globally. An exhaustive survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group reveals that a whopping one billion women are participating in the global work force, a number slated to grow to 1.2 billion by 2015! It also points out that more and more married women are joining the single-parent club and becoming the financial heads of their families. The authors of the study clearly state that ?the emergence of the global female economy holds the potential for creation of vast wealth?. The $20-trillion consumer spending now controlled by women could climb to as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. Women?s $12 trillion in total earnings will grow to approximately $18 trillion over the same period.
?The fact that in 2006 there were 15 million working women in urban India and this number has more than doubled over the past five years is a million-dollar opportunity no business can ignore,? asserts Rajiv Bagayatkar, director, consumer research, South-Asia, The Nielsen Company. ?The marketing fraternity saw services like insurance and credit facilities as enablers to help these women achieve the lifestyles that they aspire for. So, it is not uncommon to see ads of credit cards and international vacations especially focusing on working women,? he adds.
It?s the case of simple logical deduction. One, the participation of women in the workforce translates into households being able to afford more than just ?the basics?. ?Second, it shifts the dynamic in the household so the women get more say over major decisions than when they are not bringing in funds. Both lead to the expansion of women?s role as ?chief purchasing officer? of the household,? explains Marti Barletta, CEO, The TrendSight Group, a premier provider of insights and ideas for marketing to women. Currently working on her next book, Attracting Women: How to Market Your Company to the Leading Candidates in the Skilled Economy, Barletta sure has a lot more insights to share. ?It had always been assumed that because men tend to be inherently more interested in technology products, financial services, etc, and read and talk about them more than women do, they would do most of the buying. Instead, manufacturer and retailer data show that women have taken on most of the responsibility for the buying process in these formerly ?male? categories.?
Bijoor points out that the approach of a working woman as a consumer is quite different from a home-maker. ?Working women are more individual-centric in their purchase decisions rather than housewives who are very family-oriented in what they splurge on. A whole lot of narcissistic products also find consumption among working women.?
What?s that a time-starved, multi-tasking, working woman needs most? Time-saving, multi-purpose products that can just simplify their lives! That explains the ?all-in-one sunscreens, skin solutions that serve anti-ageing, moisturising, toning functions in a single application; shampoos containing hair-oil; microwaves with built-in recipe timers; higher front-loading washing machines in the market,? says Saloni Nangia, vice-president, retail consulting division of Technopak.
The latest report by Technopak also indicates that most working women seek to save time or effort in their daily routine but without having to compromise on the family?s health and upbringing. The result has been a marked shift in the consumption and shopping behaviour of this segment. ?A potential of generating an additional spend of $5-10 billion by 2015 can be created by sheer increments in spends of women because they are working,? adds Nangia. The ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food segment has also grown. The market for packaged food in India has grown from under a billion dollars in 2002-03 to $2.6 billion in 2006-07, says the Food Habits of India report. The reason it cites?working women have higher awareness and marginally higher trial levels; their intention to ensure consumption of new food types is also slightly more as compared to non-working women.
The online space will be the next to gain from this movement. ?Working women are now Internet-savvy and would prefer the quickest and easiest route to complete routine work such as payment of bills, booking of tickets and ordering grocery online. She may also use it more frequently for lifestyle shopping,? reasons Nangia.