The Power of the Purse: How Smart Businesses Are Adapting to the World's Most Important Consumers-Women (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "For Bill Lamar, chief marketing officer, McDonald's USA, 2002 was about to go down as one of the worst years in his almost 20-year career..." (more)
Key Phrases: woman inside the mom, shojo manga, women garners, The Home Depot, New York, Hot Topic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This engaging marketing primer urges companies to stop taking women customers for granted. Drawing on pop-sociology research into the collapse of rigid sex roles in the dawning "post-gender" age, Fast Company writer Warner notes that, in addition to their traditional penchant for shopping, women now have high-paying jobs and financial independence, and they're invading previously masculine preserves like home repairs and sweaty competitive sports. To reach the new woman, she contends, companies must stop thinking of them only as wives and mothers and do more than add a token female to their ads or offer existing products in pink. She illustrates with a number of case-study anecdotes about corporate marketing innovations, including Home Depot's female-friendly power-tools seminars; Kodak's marketing of easy-to-download digital cameras to technophobic women; clothing realtor Hot Topic's targeting of skimpy fashions to chubby teens; and DeBeers's bittersweet campaign to get women to buy their own diamonds instead of pining for a man to do it. Warner's premise is somewhat overblown, since, in general, business is raptly attentive to female consumers, but she offers a useful exhortation to stay abreast of the onrushing vanguard of girl power. And if most of the initiatives she showcases boil down to a more sophisticated form of pandering, well, that's what good marketing is all about. (Oct. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Women now drive some 80% of all buying decisions. By 2010, they'll account for half of America's private wealth: $13 trillion dollars. A few remarkable companies have learned how to refocus on women -- and, in so doing, have achieved truly stunning results. In The Power of the Purse, top journalist Fara Warner takes you behind the scenes at those companies, revealing how they did it -- and how you can, too. Unlike previous books on marketing to women, this one doesn't settle for generalities: it offers in-depth, start-to-finish case studies. Discover how McDonald's turned around its business by recognizing women as full-fledged consumers, not just 'Moms.' Learn how Kodak's digital camera business soared from fourth to first by recognizing women's importance as family 'memory makers'. See how P G built Swiffer into a cultural revolution, and how the diamond industry did the same for right-hand rings. Watch Bratz topple Barbie, Torrid create its enormously successful plus-size stores for teenagers, and Avon connect with a radically new generation of women.From Nike to Home Depot, each story is unique -- but in every case, these companies put women at the center of their strategies, and listened intently to what real women consumers were telling them. It's not about 'painting your products pink': it's about transforming the way you think about women. Do that, and you'll create products that sell better to everyone.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (September 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131855190
• ISBN-13: 978-0131855199
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #282,560 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-Provoking Case Histories, March 4, 2006

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Somewhere in the first five minutes of any good business school's initial marketing class, the professor will sternly admonish students to listen to their customers and provide what's relevant. Ms. Warner in this book suggests that many such students must have fallen asleep during that lecture . . . or didn't understand the point.

In The Power of the Purse, Ms. Warner shows how some of the largest companies in the world fell asleep providing offerings and marketing to support those offerings that perhaps fit the U.S. market in 1955 . . . but certainly don't fit the market today.

To me, the most powerful case history was for Bratz, the new doll series that overtook Barbie in three years after 50 years of doll dominance. Few parents in my experience failed to note that Barbie wasn't right for their daughters. But it was hard to find alternatives that were any better. Bratz was based on the idea that pre-teen girls grow out of wanting to play with a doll that's Mommy and want to play with dolls that are like the girls and their friends. To do that, the dolls needed to look like real girls and not Donald Trump's idea of a dream date or trophy wife. They also needed to dress like contemporary girls. Bratz provides those obvious benefits and took the world by storm. The company's leader credits much of the inspiration from watching his daughter play with her dolls.

If you survey women over 70, their attitudes are pretty much the traditional ones. If you survey girls, you find that they believe that can do anything and want to be in charge of their lives. The age groups between those extremes express blended combinations of those views with the mixed based on the age.

In other words, women in the U.S. have been changing and marketers have been missing the boat. These case histories eloquently combine statistics and stories to prove that point.

The cases include McDonald's discovering that women want to eat something remotely healthful when they bring the kids in for a treat, Kodak finding out that women want simple ways to develop family photo memories, Torrid providing plus size fashion like what the fashionably anorexic normally wear, Avon discovering that the daughters of Avon Ladies want to make a buck too . . . but in a different way, Procter & Gamble making it easier to be a bread winner who enjoys the satisfaction of a clean floor, Nike learning that women's feet are different from men's, Home Depot uncovering male-female partnering in home improvement projects and women discovering the joy of buying diamond rings for the right hand.

Reading these stories made me think that most companies have a long way to go.

The main drawbacks of the book are three. First, Ms. Warner loves to give you all the details. Her case histories are longer than they need to be, as a result. The first one on McDonald's is a real snore. Keep reading. It gets better. Second, Ms. Warner adds almost no management insight to her case histories. These cases are like stories written for a glossy magazine rather than to train marketers. Third, Ms. Warner spreads her points about how women have changed throughout the book. She takes a long time to get her point across. A better opening that summarized the key elements would have made the rest of the book a lot more interesting by providing the context before the examples.

Normally, I wouldn't rate such a bare bones book as highly as this one. But I don't know of any better book on how marketers are overcoming decades of bad habits in serving women. So any book that's the best in its field deserves five stars.

Nice insights, Ms. Warner!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good case studies on how companies have found new markets by recognizing the way women live today, October 10, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Businesses are becoming ever more aware of the way the lives of women have changed and the many kinds of roles they fill in the workplace, in their home, and even whether they are mothers or not. This book does a fine job in showing us how companies such as McDonalds, Nike, Kodak, DeBeers, and others have learned these lessons to their benefit.

McDonalds used to ignore women while focusing on children and men. By listening to women and letting women help design their new salads, they have not only increases sales, but increased the dollars per order as well. Kodak, went back to its roots and created products for digital photography that were easy to use and empowered women who weren't interested in becoming technical experts to take and print great pictures. Nike opened a huge new market by creating products specifically for women rather than simply cutting down men's products. Women want and need different equipment and fashion. DeBeers realized that their traditional market of selling to men to buy for women was cutting them out of the market of single women who could buy diamonds for themselves.

This is a book of eye opening case studies and contains lessons for every business. There may be things to bemoan about the course our current culture is taking, but businesses have to function and sell in the present. This book can help you see what others have found and maybe help you think through possible new directions for your own company and its products and services.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Pink: Marketing to Women, January 23, 2006

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book combines the story of women's new economic power with case studies that detail how major companies have revamped their marketing to target women customers. Author Fara Warner, a journalist, knows her beat. In fact, she sometimes gets carried away with the facts, and her style can be dry and predictable. Still, we find this book invaluable for marketers and people interested in women's emerging economic clout, a major social and demographic trend. Warner provides specific advice that will help you avoid costly, time-consuming marketing mistakes as you pursue these crucial customers.