In Luxury Realm, Men Shopping More Like Women
You know all those hard years you’ve put into learning more about marketing to women (or at least the long, hard years you’ve put into reading what I have to say)? Now is the time to reap the benefits! There is evidence that men are beginning to shop more like women.
It all started with skin and hair care products, things men could easily just sneak from their wives or girlfriends, or secretly purchase online, if need be. But, men are now going offline with this behavior as well, and the luxury world, in particular, has taken note. Brands like Harry Winston and Lilly Pulitzer are apparently using all their usual "womanly" methods to serve apparel and accessory-buying men.
In the December 15th issue of the Wall Street Journal, Ray A. Smith wrote about this trend in luxury marketing. Here are two excerpts from that insightful piece:
"The labels say one of their ultimate goals is to get men to shop more
like women — making more impulse purchases and being open to items
they didn’t intend to buy when they walked into the store."
and,
"The labels say it makes business sense to target men
now. In the 12 months ended Oct. 31, U.S. sales of men’s apparel rose
2.6% to $56.3 billion — faster than the 1.9% growth to $103.5 billion
in the women’s apparel market, according to market researcher NPD Group."
Of course, fashion and "beauty" industries would be first to leverage their women’s markets knowledge to serve the men who buy like them. The question is: will more traditionally male-dominated industries soon start using the guidance they’ve received from their women’s market to serve everyone better? Yes. In fact, the auto and home-building industries are each showing signs of awareness in this direction (as I will write about in a future post).
What is the world coming to? I think men are slowly sticking their toes in the water of more holistic thinking and buying. Once they try a fancier skin lotion and like it, for example, what is to keep them from taking it another step and demanding more from their clothing retailers and car dealerships? Men have long witnessed the pleasure in, or at least the dedication that women give to, making wise, long term, more meaningful connections with brands and retailers. They are now feeling free to go beyond linear thinking and use both right and left brain traits to consider and make purchase decisions.
Please note: this is not to say that men are becoming more girly. It is only that society may have come to a point in time where men are considered no less masculine if they want a nice sweater, a facial or a safer car. The point is that we live in a world of abundance, and EVERYONE now expects/demands much more relevance and higher standards of service from brands. And, brands must listen because they are scrambling to keep, let alone, grow their markets right now.
The way I see it, men are discovering what women have long known and acted upon as consumers. Any
brand that saw this coming, and spent time to learn more and become
relevant to women, now has a serious advantage. Congratulations readers!
December 19th, 2007 at 3:30 am
Well now this is certainly an interesting piece of information. Perhaps one day, people will be able to do as they wish without having society’s gender expectations haunt them. After all, everyone deserves to live a good life. This should be an exciting time for marketing and advertising companies everywhere.
December 24th, 2007 at 3:06 am
not sure about the “facial” (there’s “another meaning” to that word btw:-) ), but guys wanting safe vehicles/transport.. when was that ‘unmasculine’? maybe on tv (eg, jackazz)..
imo, that there’s no need for such revelations if one initially avoids adopting the odd assumptions.
btw, there are still things so cheap - er, inexpensive, that if you use it and it fails, you toss it without bothering even to slag it on epinions