New Study Reports Values of Adult Female Consumers

A chinese businesswoman standing in front of her colleague
A chinese businesswoman standing in front of her colleague

Marie Claire magazine and Unity Marketing have partnered to educate marketers about today’s modern “All Access Woman” in an extensive research initiative completed during the past nine months.

“We found a powerful and empowered woman who is in control of her destiny and controls the destiny of so many product and service brands with which she chooses to do business,” says Unity Marketing’s president, Pam Danziger.

Marie Claire commissioned a study of 1,800 women to learn more about what they value and how they manage their priorities.

“Women today are more highly educated and informed than ever before,” says Susan Plagemann, Marie Claire’s vice president and publisher. “We felt the time was right to take a much closer look at the things that really matter to women to help us educate marketers on the best way to reach and speak to today’s multi-dimensional females.”

The two companies found that today’s female consumer has five top priorities, including:

  • Emotional Health and Family: Caring and supporting her family is the No. 1 priority at 88%. Her top challenge is finding time to relax, unwind and take care of herself at 61%.
  • Career and Finances: Achieving financial goals and saving for retirement are tops in this category at 78%. She is in a constant search for value in her life. She’ll pay more for value.
  • Society and Politics: In this pivotal election year for women, the Marie Claire survey reveals that fully 75% of women strongly agreed that in the upcoming election what the candidate will do and the beliefs they hold are more important than gender or race. Additionally, 86% plan to vote in the November election. As for the “Society” category, 80% of women give back to charity financially or with a time commitment.
  • Health and Wellness: She’s busy and she’s stressed. Wellness takes time. Nearly half (49%) of women surveyed sacrifice sleep as one of her primary time-management strategies. Women need products and services that help her make time for her health.
  • Fashion and Beauty: She is an extremely powerful consumer. Her consumer power comes not just from having money, but from knowledge. She invests her time to learn more and to be a smarter person and a smarter shopper. While her family and her job are very important to her, fashion and beauty are areas that are hers and hers alone.

Overall, Danziger believes marketers have to deliver an experience. "Women want more than just a product," she reports. "They want a shopping experience that enhances their lives."

“Marketers need to rise to the occasion that this new powerful and empowered woman shopper represents. Marketers and retailers want to build a more meaningful connection with this woman than simply having her as their customer,” Danziger adds. “They want more than just a transaction; they want to develop a relationship and the way to do that is to align their marketing and branding messages with her values and priorities.”

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