It's not about pretty colors: Analysts say women who buy electronics
generally want to understand how the products will help improve their lives
By Alex L. Goldfayn
Special to the
Tribune
May 7, 2005
Technology companies have long aimed new
products at its core audience of early adopters--usually young "gadget guy"
males comfortable with tech lingo--but now the industry is coming to grips with
the rapidly changing face of its customers.
Women now influence nearly
every household technology purchase. And a woman's tech needs--not to mention
their shopping methods for technology--are very different from a man's. This is
leading the $113.5 billion consumer-electronics industry to accelerate changes
in the way its products are developed, marketed and sold.
And while
progress is being made, the road remains rocky.
"I think the industry is
absolutely not addressing my needs," said Michelle Madhok, of New York-based
SheFinds.com, a shopping site for women.
"It's much more male-focused.
They're speaking this language they expect you to understand. It's a language
most women have not learned. I have no idea what they're talking about. I think
a lot of things are left in the men's domain with the women saying, `No, I think
that TV's too big, honey.'"
Alexandra Silets agrees. "It's infuriating.
There's DLP and HD and HD-ready and LCD and plasma. They start throwing these
terms out and the female consumer doesn't want to seem stupid so you just stand
there and nod your head and say `yes,'" said Silets, a producer for WTTW-TV's
Chicago Tonight.
Last year, the Consumer Electronics Association found
that 88 percent of women believe they have at least equal influence over
household tech purchases. Furthermore, more than half of those women said they
have the most influence in their household, the Arlington, Va.-based
organization said.
And while men typically are interested in the
technical aspects of electronics, women are more practical.
"Women want
ease of use, they want to understand how these products will help make their
lives better," said Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis for Washington,
N.Y.-based NPD Group. "That's the Holy Grail."
The path to the Holy Grail
begins with product design.
"Instead of everything being square and
putty-colored, things are now coming in colors like silver, blue-green, gold and
aqua," said Steve Koenig, senior analyst at the Consumer Electronics
Association.
Indeed, partly as a result of women's heavy participation in
technology focus groups, items as diverse as MP3 players, digital cameras, cell
phones and notebook computers now come in different shapes, sizes and in every
color of the rainbow.
The wireless phone industry's efforts to tailor
products for women are especially noticeable.
"Our equipment lineup is
skewed more towards women," said Carol Damit, a Schaumburg-based marketing
director for Verizon Wireless. "The size of the phones, the color of the phones,
leather accessories, and headsets that don't hurt the hairdo, if you
will."
Verizon even carries a line of "pockes" in its stores. They're
small, colorful pouchlike phone cases that snap onto a woman's
purse.
"Mine is a brown pocke with white furry lining on the outside,"
said Wendy Shelleny, a Glenview real estate agent and Verizon
customer.
Shelleny, her husband, her mother and her sister all share
minutes within a single plan. When they call each other, minutes are not
subtracted from their monthly allowance.
"That's very convenient,"
Shelleny said. "My family helps care for my kids. So I can call them without
worrying what it's going to cost."
Fashionable cell phones
Mobile
phone-makers are partnering with designers to create phones aimed at women.
Consider the Anna Sui E315 from Samsung. For about $250, you get a fashionable
phone with a matching case.
Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. recently
released the diamond-encrusted Baby Phat i833. The phone, with just under a
half-carat of diamonds, costs about $700.
Circuit City Stores Inc. has
recently started carrying a line of laptop bags called Anika, designed for
women.
And Netherlands-based Tulip Computers has come out with what may
be the icing on the technology-for-women cake: a laptop with a fabric shell
instead of the usual plastic or metallic outer surface.
Women's
technology demands go beyond look and feel, however.
"Most companies
think that if they make technology for women, they want pretty colors. In fact,
women don't care about the color, they care about the weight, functionality, and
most importantly, the ease of use," said Carolyn Leighton, founder of Los
Angeles-based Women in Technology International.
Experts say that's why
products like Apple's iPod music player have attained such mainstream
popularity: It's attractive and very easy to use.
"You get the iPod, you
plug it in, and it's done," said Madhok of SheFinds.com.
Apple has also
done well in advertising the iPod to women. On television commercials, capacity
and other technical specifications are rarely mentioned.
"Look at how the
iPod is marketed," said Graham Mudd, senior analyst at Reston, Va.-based
ComScore Networks Inc. "Instead of focusing on being the newest or most
innovative high technology, Apple is much more about image. It has implications
of how you think about yourself."
Increasingly, wireless-phone carriers
and digital-camera manufacturers are also focusing ads on lifestyle
benefits.
Focus on family a plus
"Look at AOL's ad campaign," said
Dan Hess, senior vice president at ComScore. "It clearly plays into women's
desires to protect their families from questionable Internet
content."
But even with progress in product development and marketing,
the industry's biggest shortcomings remain at the point-of-sale retail
location.
Aside from a sprinkling of test locations like Best Buy Co.'s
Naperville-based Studio D store--which takes on a lifestyle-centered approach to
selling technology--electronics retailers are still figuring out how to better
orient their stores to women.
"The retailers are trying to take down the
noise," said NPD Group's Baker. "Retailers are trying to concentrate on what
those products do for a person as opposed to speeds and feeds and
features."
And there's work to do.
"I think the sales associates
do a horrible job at talking with us," said Madhok.
"Women just want to
know the short version. When you're marketing to women, if you make it too
difficult for them, they'll leave you. Why should I have to work so hard? I'm
paying you good money."
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