Marketing Cars to Women: Light Blue Vs. Pink Thinking?
Springwise recently reported on a new way of marketing cars to women, in the form of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Clutch - a retailer with a beautifully designed showroom and a very deliberate, female-friendly sales approach. The photos of the space are gorgeous and all the background about how it came to be make a lot of sense.
There is no "cars, for women" label in the tagline, nor is there pink on the web site . Instead, light blue is the core color and the tagline is "more than a purse."
So, these are some of my questions: Is this an approach that only serves women, or would a few men also like to experience that space and that sort of high level of customer service (as pictured and described on their site)? Don’t those couches and the overall design and lighting represented by the photos draw you in as well? If you knew an option like this existed, would you be likely to check it out?
What Clutch is doing is great, and they have clearly raised the bar. However, I think they may have limited the longer term potential for the concept by even their "light blue" approach to women. If men see that better service and more well-designed environment and experience are available, they may also appreciate it. "More than a purse" is subtle, but it is still a type of "for women" label. If a man wanted to check out Clutch, he would likely not want to admit he visited, let alone bought a vehicle, at the showroom that obviously (not transparently) focuses on women.
How men buy and how women buy are not the same, but they cover the same territory. If you assume that men tend to buy along a more linear path (price, specs, horsepower), you can see how a woman’s perhaps more typically winding path might overlay that line. Any shopper with a more holistic mindset (and that could be either a man or woman) will take in a lot of other aspects as well (like what Clutch offers).
Car shopping is certainly a male-dominated industry with very traditional approaches to marketing. Both men and women today have a lot of choice in car brands and models, so the add-on or unexpected extras in service, showroom environment and so on could well tip the scales for many a savvy car buyer.
Clutch seems to be doing a lot right, but over time I’m wondering if they might just remove the tagline and the background about their women-focused research, and let customers, no matter their gender, decide that a more sophisticated and service-oriented, higher standard, approach is for them. Given the option, what would you decide?
October 12th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Andrea, I saw this just this morning and had the same reaction. I don’t think anyone is satisfied with the current dealer experience - including the salesmen (I am married to one!). I think this more sophisticated environment makes sense when you are asking someone to plunk down $50,000 or more for a car. I even like the name, but wish it didn’t have the tagline. Seems like a nicer environment and experience would make great sense in general and could really re-define car shopping in the luxury category, but if they continue to marginalize it, the potential will always remain limited.