Written by NBC Affiliate WDIV Detroit aired an informative segment about the book. Click on the image below to check out the video!
We’re in the State News!
Our book, Consumer Behavior: Women and Shopping, was recently covered by the State News. The piece brings to light the role women play in the survival of the retailing industry, and also, how businesses across the globe must adapt to meet female shoppers’ needs! Please click HERE to read the article.
Women & Shopping Featured in Michigan State University News!
The text taking the retailing industry by storm, Women & Shopping, has been featured in a recent article on the Michigan State University News website. In the article, relationships between women’s shopping habits and the driving forces behind them are analyzed, along with the always-evolving consumer-shopping environment.
Click HERE for a link to the retailing article
Be sure to get your copy today from Amazon.com
Shopping with Mom for Mother’s Day?
As we get ready to honor our Moms this Mother’s Day, take a look around when you are at the mall. You will probably see lots of mothers and daughters (and maybe grandmothers) shopping together, laughing, lingering and having a great time. Our research has allowed us to hear lots of fond memories about mothers and daughters enjoying time together while shopping.
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Image via gregvojtko
One of my clearest memories of shopping with my mother was when I was about to go into first grade in 1961. My mother was 8 months pregnant with my sister, but she took me to J.C. Penney to buy a new dress for the first day of school. I remember the dress: it had a blue skirt and a white bodice with a little blue cape. I also remember the salespeople being very solicitous of my mother because she looked like she was going to go into labor at any moment.
If you have a favorite memory of shopping with your mother, please post your story or photos on the Women and Shopping website or on the Women and Shopping Facebook page. We love to hear these stories!
Women and spending
Last week Wall Street Journal columnist Carl Bialik reported that a commonly used statistic to estimate womens’ purchasing power is not substantiated. Industry analysts widely report that women are responsible for 80% of the purchase decisions made, yet there appears to be no “hard data” to support this conjecture. In our book, Women and Shopping, we also used that 80% statistic to discuss womens’ economic power. Regardless of whether 80% is the correct figure, women do spend more time shopping than men. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Time Use survey reports that women spend 28 minutes per day shopping for consumer goods vs. 18 minutes for men (53% more time). Women who grocery shop spend 63% more time than men (8 minutes vs. 5 minutes per day). Perhaps women do not control exactly 80 percent of spending, but the BLS data show that they spend more time shopping than men and as we all know: time is money! Retail marketers ignore this at their peril.
Ms. Grab and Go’s Dream: Mobile Technology in Hands of Salespeople
An April 2011 article in Stores Magazine estimated that over 75 percent of consumers use two or more retail channels when they shop. With the increased availability of mobile technology to research product and price information, the next step is to put this technology in the hands of salespeople. For Ms. Grab and Go, a time impoverished, utilitarian shopper, this is a dream come true. Armed with mobile devices, sales people can assist her in quickly locating desired products and allow the retailer to maintain adequate inventory levels to meet her needs. Ms. Grab and Go loves efficiency, so for her, sales people who are armed with these devices represent an ideal shopping situation and an opportunity for retail marketers to make Ms. Grab and Go a loyal customer.
Want to live longer? Go shopping!
A recent study in Taiwan found that people who shopped frequently (both men and women) were less likely to die. The article states that: “frequent shopping among the elderly may not always be about buying things…”
The findings of this study support one of the main points in Consumer Behavior: Women and Shopping. Shopping is not always about buying. People shop to spend time with others, to “recharge their batteries” or as an outlet for creative thinking. In Chapter 5, we talk about different motivations for shopping, and one of these is to spend time with others. Retail marketing efforts for the elderly might focus on the social aspects of shopping.
The Retail Industry’s Most Valuable Asset – Women
Why a book on women and shopping? Why is it important? How do women shop and what does it mean to them? How can marketers and retailers maximize the appeal of their products to women? This book provides a wealth of background information and detailed insights into the topic of American women and shopping. The book is written specifically for business professionals in the following areas:
• marketing
• apparel and household goods manufacturing
• distribution and supply
• small to medium enterprise (SME) owners
• retailers
• advertisers
• property developers
• mall managers