I love the title of the 10/29/2006 New York Times article that has created such a buzz in the past week. [See Andrea Learned's Well Deserved Coverage for the Women's Market Opportunity and Michele Miller's Wonderbytes
to name 2.] I even saw a comment that this has been the most emailed
article in the history of the New York Times [just can't remember where
:( ].
The article is What Do Women Want? Just Ask. Money Talks, And They're Buying by Mickey Meece. It refers to Joanne Thomas Yaccato - from The Thomas Yaccato Group and author of The 80% Minority - whom
I heard speak at the 2005 M2W Conference in Chicago. And, yes, she is
responsible for the very popular Yaccato 2 house model. [By the way,
you can also access the NYC times article at this link on her site.] I bet its bathrooms are fabulous!
The
article offers a lot of data about women's increasing purchasing power
in the marketplace, with wonderful examples from Canada [Shane Homes] and the U.S. [Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, Best Buy, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, MassMutual, Crave Party, BeJane.com, and AskPatty.com] illustrating that some companies are paying attention and LISTENING to its women consumers.
Consider,
then, the benefits of asking your women consumers for their opinions.
They will be more than happy to help you develop thoughtful solutions
IF YOU LISTEN!
[Talking about thoughtful solutions, read Learned's post on How Women Buy Toilets: They Sit On Them.]