NewsBytes: 21st Century Male Shoppers, Gender and Inflation Expectations
1) The latest Packaged Facts report on the U.S. Men’s Market finds that there is a significant, if minority, segment of men who: "…place a premium on staying fit and looking good and following fashion. Rather than viewing shopping as a necessary chore, they enjoy shopping as an experience. Their home is important to them and they are very interested in home decorating and cooking." (And, if I must point out why I include this news in a blog about marketing
to women: their buying habits are trending a lot more female-like.) These men are either what Packaged Facts calls the "young shoppers" (18 - 34) or the "Modern Men" (in the age 35+ group), so we can likely count on them to influence a lot of their peers over the next few years. I predict their buying behavior will not be in the minority in, say, another half decade.
2) Caroline Baum wrote a fascinating piece on Bloomberg.com about the gender difference in a person’s inflation expectations. Baum points to new research into how demographics plays a role in the public estimates and predictions of inflation. What she closes with is key - the Fed should figure out how to better reach women with the truth, in the places they are perhaps already gathering:
"Instead of wasting his time speaking to groups of Wall
Street bankers, where women are underrepresented, Fed Chairman
Ben Bernanke needs to branch out and talk at some Venus
gatherings: PTA meetings, Tupperware parties, maybe even the
annual conference of the National Organization for Women.
Better yet, for maximum media penetration he could follow
in his predecessor’s footsteps and make an appearance on the
`’The View.’"
Still, I suspect all consumers could use this sort of reality check, so that the masses have more accurate expectations and can make better financial decisions moving forward. The Fed might consider going much beyond what Baum calls the "Venus" gathering spots and make a serious effort to better inform everyone who is not Wall Street embedded - men and women.
