Women Wait and See,… and Now Buy Smartphones
In general, women may not be the earliest adopters of new gadgets or technology, this is true. However, as a New York Times article by Laura M. Holson tells us, that doesn’t mean women haven’t been scoping out the scene the whole time, waiting for their perfect moment to buy. They are experienced shoppers, and when they do go to make that purchase – they’ve already done all the research and will quickly become their new tech gadget’s biggest fan!
Just ask women how much they love their smartphones these days… Holson’s story offers the proof:
In a big shift for the phone industry, women have emerged as eager buyers of not just iPhones but of all so-called smartphones — BlackBerrys, Treos and other models.
In the last year the number of American women using smartphones more than doubled to 10.4 million, growing at a faster pace than among men, according to Nielsen Mobile, which tracks wireless trends.
…
You might say a woman’s more typically lateralized (left with right brain) way of thinking is perfectly set up for tech buying. They don’t have to rush to buy the latest thing, because they can contain their left brain (“must-have-latest-gadget”) with the longer term questions of their right brain (“but, it still doesn’t have that particular feature I want”). Women, or anyone who is practiced at using both sides of his/her brain – are able to think back on just how often another iteration of said phone has emerged – and so they wait.
I only recently bought a Blackberry myself. I’d waited and waited for the iPhone to work with the Vermont phone plans, and the day has yet to come. Then, I waited around to see if the Blackberry models that were available in Vermont would ever be exactly the right mix of features I desired. That day never came either. But, then I was on a snowboarding trip with an old college friend who is quite the hip mama – and she was text messaging her pre-teen kids frequently from the mountain and staying on top of a few important emails. After watching her use it and taking some fun pictures that we immediately sent to our friends, I was sold (even knowing I couldn’t get the exact model my friend had).
That’s my story. I’m a bit slower to the draw than some (I don’t need the immediacy of many of the Blackberry’s features), but I’m definitely aware of new technology and have done the plus/minus tally in my head as I read of each new development. The time became right when my left and right brains had digested it some, and then a friend nudged me to the purchase in that classic women’s word of mouth way. I needed to experience it for myself and get the recommendation of someone I knew was a smart shopper too. That can take a long time…
So, if it seems, at first glance, like women aren’t your target market. Remember this smartphone story. Sit back and observe the smaller patterns that emerge, or even just occasionally bubble up, in your industry. For men and women alike, there are layers of those who will be “immediate adopters” on down to layers of those who will be “a few year later adopters.”
Perhaps the former is NOT your favorite customer after all, because he/she so easily flits from here to there? The latter category of buyer, on the other hand, will surely take longer to contemplate the product before finally, finally making the purchase – but he or she will also stay loyal longer and tell friends all about it.
Women are more likely to approach a tech-type purchase with deliberation, and plenty of men are learning to do the same. You just can’t impress anybody very easily any more, so the left brain
reasons to buy frequently start to fade. Let the right brain reasoning begin.
