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DAVID CUTLER editor-publisher dcutler@ioc.net

$3.3 Trillion, Yes, Ma'am!

It is remarkable that as we approach the year 2000 retail experts are still having to point out the importance of women customers.

No less a marketing guru than Dr. Tom peters (ln Search of Excellence) took for his topic "Women Power" when addressing a recint International Mass Retailing Institute convention. In as much as IMRA includes the likes of WalMart, Kmart and Target, you would think if anyone realized the importance of women customers, it would be this bunch.

According to Peters, women account for the largest retail purchases and possess $3.3 trillion in consumer purchasing power. He noted that 35Vo of wives out-earn their husbands and that the female role in business is expanding across the economy. In 1970, for example, only one percent of business travelers were women; today it's half.

"Fifteen years ago retailers competed on price," Peters said, "Today it's quality and tomorrow it's design." The key word here is design. These are the creative areas of color, fashion. and ambience that women love and respond to. While most men may not care whether store walls are blue or green, women do and it can have a marked effect upon their purchasing.

A recent IMRA study backs up Peters. Brand characteristics, personal assistance from clerks or experts, and U.S.-made products rank higher with the distaff side. Women pay more attention to coupons and special promotions. Last, but not least, is the major importance females place on servrce.

Concluding, Peters foresees that to compete in the 21st Century, retailers will not only have to know what consumers want, but how they want it. Although 69Vo of consumers enter a store knowing what they want, Sl%o leave empty handed. Obviously, retailers must do a better job analyzing data on consumer needs and wants.

The old cliche is true: half the people are women and that half controls more than 50Vo of consumer spending. Enough said?