Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers [Hardcover]

Bridget Brennan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2009

If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female.
If the business world had a sex, it would be male.

And therein lies the pickle.

Women are the engine of the global economy, driving 80 percent of consumer spending in the United States alone. They hold the purse strings, and when they’ve got a tight grip on them as they do now, companies must be shrewder than ever to win them over. Just when executives have mastered becoming technology literate, they find there’s another skill they need: becoming female literate.

This isn’t always easy. Gender is the most powerful determinant of how a person views the world and everything in it. It’s stronger than age, income, or race. While there are mountains of research done every year segmenting consumers and analyzing why they buy, more often than not it doesn’t factor in the one piece of information that trumps them all: the sex of the buyer. It’s stunning how many companies overlook the psychology of gender when we all know that men and women look at the world so differently.

Bridget Brennan’s Why She Buys shows decision makers how to bridge this divide and capture the business of the world’s most powerful consumers just when they need it most.

• No Matter Where You Live, Women Are a Foreign Country: You’ll discover the value in studying women with the same intensity that you would a foreign market. Women grow up within a culture of their own gender, which is often invisible to men. Brennan dissects this female culture and explains the important brain differences
between men and women that may cause your female customers to notice things about your products, marketing campaigns, or sales environment that you might have overlooked.

• The High Fives: There are five major trends driving the global female population that are key to determining their wants and needs. These global shifts are just beginning to be tapped by businesses, and learning about them can provide you with an invaluable blueprint for long-range planning.

• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Find out how the best and brightest companies have cracked the female code, and hear horror stories about those that haven’t. Through instructive case studies and interviews, Why She Buys provides practical, field-proven techniques that you can apply to your business immediately, from giants like Procter & Gamble and Toyota to upstarts like Method home-care products and lululemon athletica apparel.

At a time when every company is looking for a competitive advantage, Bridget Brennan offers a new and effective lens for capturing market share.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The founder of Female Factor Strategic Consulting is a convincing cheerleader for marketing more effectively to women. She points out that women purchase or are the key influencers in about 80% of all consumer product sales in the U.S. alone—but 90% of marketing execs trying to reach them are men. In her crusade to teach marketers to become female-literate, Brennan offers very practical advice, urging readers to think twice before using overtly masculine competitive messages, to avoid violent images and language, and to realize that women, focused on practicality rather than cool bells and whistles, require fairly sophisticated marketing: pink is not a strategy, she reminds us tartly. The five important global demographic changes affecting female consumerism—more women in the work force; delayed marriages and therefore more spending on self; lower birthrates resulting in fewer kids (but more stuff); a divorce economy, which translates into needing two of everything; and the growing rate of active older women—mean that the female market must be well catered to. BrennanÖs style is smart and straightforward, and her pragmatic advice is spot-on; marketers should take note. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Bridget Brennan’s book provides a highly readable road map to help marketers and salespeople understand women’s beliefs, values, and sensitivities. Given that women account for a high percentage of purchases, while many products are developed and sold by men, a reading of Bridget’s book will go a long way to closing this gap and improving the satisfaction of both genders.” —Philip Kotler, S. C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

“Bridget Brennan’s highly informative and entertaining book provides keen–and unusual–insights into both the psychological makeup of women consumers and the demographic facts that everyone in business needs to know in order to execute marketing strategies in this challenging economic environment. Long live the Female Economy!” —Joseph V. Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer, The Coca-Cola Company

"Ms. Brennan is all about the commerce she observes.  'If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female.  If the business world had a sex, it would be male.  And therein lies the pickle.' [She] explores the marketing opportunities offered by trends…all of which leave women making even more buying decisions." –Wall Street Journal

"Is the customer always right?  Yes, She is: An entertaining and …rich account of…untapped opportunities.  Fun and anecdotal." --Financial Times 

"Lively, insightful and relentlessly engaging…should be required reading for anyone burdened with a Y chromosome." –Fortune Small Business

"Brennan details the major trends behind female spending and provides strategies for companies to crack the code." –Forbes Woman

“[Brennan] explains why the existing misunderstanding of gender cultures isn't just a gender gap but a gender "canyon," and provides case studies of female-focused initiatives from marketers such as Callaway, Ryland Homes, Lululemon, Lexus and MasterCard" – Advertising Age

“Word of mouth can make or break a brand, and this book confirms the fact that women talk to other women more about products than men do” --Journal of Consumer Marketing

"Why She Buys [guides] retailers and consumer goods manufacturers on how [women] are increasingly powerful consumers and how they think and shop."–LA Times

“Nab the Women’s Market” – Investors Business Daily

“Since we (women) are driving the economy and the economy could use a boost, it’s all good news” – ABC NEWS NOW

“[Women] are the most important constituency because they make all the decisions….a much needed perspective” – Fox Business Morning

“Witty and insightful” – Marie Claire India

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307450384
• ISBN-13: 978-0307450388
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!, October 15, 2009

By 

G. Brisson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers (Hardcover)

I love this book. It is loaded with practical examples about the differences between men and women and ideas to leverage those differences to target female consumers. Brennan is at once a seasoned business pro and a master storyteller so her writing is not only fresh, relevant, and insightful, but also totally engaging and memorable. I retained so many helpful tips because she supports her well-researched assertions with vivid examples from the everyday life. Why She Buys is a serious and scholarly business book that is as entertaining as summer beach reading. If your business depends on female consumers this book is a must read for your entire staff. I plan to give copies of this book away at the office holiday party this year- it may be one of the few gift books that people actually read!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You think you know, but you have no idea who your consumer is until you read Why She Buys, October 12, 2009

By 

Lauren (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers (Hardcover)

Why She Buys is for men and women, sales people and advertising junkies, brand managers and retailers. While you think you might know who your target consumer is, you have no idea until you read Why She Buys by Bridget Brennan. So often we rely on consumer insights and decision trees to help us figure out how to push products and services, but Brennan has reminded us to take a step back from the data and understand our target's values, lifestyle and culture. With women making more than 80% of all purchasing decisions it is important for us to take a closer look at what is most important TO THEM when it comes to meeting the needs of women consumers.

This book is so much more than just gender culture, this book is the inside scoop on everything your consumer wants to share with you, but hasn't had the opportunity. The reality is, if you're not reading this book your competitor is. As someone who is in the advertising industry who works with female-dominated categories and brands, this book is a 'must read' if you plan on differentiating yourself at shelf.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Why She Buys" the best marketing book since Ogilvy's classic, August 5, 2009

By 

Realty Copywriter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers (Hardcover)

No one on the planet that has anything to do with sales, marketing or advertising should be allowed back to the office until reading this book over and over. What makes the information so helpful is that it approaches marketing from a totally new perspective. The basic theme of the book is that the gender of your audience will be the key factor in whether your marketing works or falls flat. The book lays out a eye-opening premise for all of this. Men are still running most businesses. Corporations do have women at the executive level, but ultimately men make the final decisions about the direction of the marketing. According to the book, however, women influence about 90% of all household buying decisions. So, the majority of marketing firepower (directed by men) is aimed at the consumer market which is mainly female. Well, you can see the problem. The book contains many case studies that show how sagging sales are turned around by changing the marketing message with gender in mind.

This is the best marketing book since David Ogilvy wrote, "Ogilvy On Advertising."