A dominant force

"I am woman; hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore.”

When singer Helen Reddy first belted out those lyrics back in the early 1970s, she was championing the feminist movement. But those particular words from her career-defining “I Am Woman” hit song certainly ring true at retail today. Although more men might be shopping for groceries and other necessities than ever before, women remain the primary shoppers — and as a group, they are simply too large and too vocal for retailers to ignore.

According to a 2013 survey-based report commissioned by the Private Label Manufacturers Association, New York, and put together by global market researcher GfK Custom Research North, two-thirds of U.S. women still handle much of the grocery shopping and take the time to make the buying decisions.

“Women are still doing the majority of shopping for the household, but I think that they are delegating to men some of the work,” says Marti Barletta, founder of The TrendSight Group, Winnetka, Ill.

Shopping behavior: women vs. men

In terms of shopping behavior, however, female shoppers are actually very similar to male shoppers across the path to purchase, according to new research from Anthem, part of Des Plaines, Ill.-based SGK. The research findings are outlined in a soon-to-be published white paper, “Lines Blur Between His and Her Shopping Habits.” But some differences are notable.

“Prior to making purchases, we found women more often plan or map out purchases in advance to save time or minimize shopping trips,” explains Tammy Chung, brand strategist for Anthem. “We can hypothesize based on past research that this may be due to the many time demands women are balancing.”

That planning behavior also might be related to women’s tendency to be the inventory manager for their households, Barletta suggests — most of them keep track of which essentials need replenishing, while most men do not.

In addition, women are more likely than men to make a list, consult a retailer’s circular and clip coupons to take along on the shopping trip, says Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president for Kantar Retail, Columbus, Ohio.

“However, men are more likely to be engaged pre-trip online — i.e., looking at Facebook pages, Twitter feeds or websites of retailers they plan to shop or to help them make decisions about where to shop,” she says.

Women also are more likely than men to purchase products only when they are on sale, Chung says, and more likely to join loyalty programs for brands they like.

Whitfield agrees that sales/promotions are more important to women than men, as are high-quality fresh foods and a “one-stop shop.”

Connecting emotionally, too, is more critical for women than for men.

“Women certainly are more open to stories and the experience when they shop,” says Gwen Morrison, CEO of The Store, The Americas & Australasia, the global retail practice of the global WPP marketing communications company.

It’s worth noting that shoppers as a whole have been consolidating the set of retailers they shop in a given month, according to Whitfield.

“Consequently, there has been a slight but continued growth of stock-up trips,” she says. “Once they get to the grocery store, there has been a shift of shoppers who exclusively or primarily shop perimeter departments; this shift is more pronounced among female shoppers.”

Age matters

In addition to differing from men in some areas of shopping behavior, women often differ from other women here according to age or life stage. For example, millennial women are generally less brand loyal than older women are, and more open to brand switching, Morrison says. They also are more open to considering different retail outlets for their grocery shopping trips.

“Young people, for example, are seeing food in a Walgreens and they’re seeing food in a Target, and a younger woman might say that Target is her favorite grocery store,” she says.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Anthem’s research found differences between female millennials and baby boomers, too, when it comes to the use of technology to aid shopping.

“We found more millennials than baby boomers go online and use their smartphones while shopping to inform their purchases,” Chung explains. “The younger generation also tends to take to social media sites after they make their purchases to both recommend and criticize products after use.”

But that doesn’t mean that older women are spurning technology when it comes to shopping, suggests Laura Johnston, executive creative director in Geometry Global’s Chicago office. She points to her own mom, who is in her 60s and participates in Zulily’s flash sales.

“Seniors are embracing and adopting technologies that help them navigate their lives more easily,” she says. “As our population ages, think about the implications for services like Amazon Prime or home grocery delivery.”

Life stage factors into the technology equation as well.

“Moms are much more likely to seek the convenience of online shopping” than are women without children, Whitfield says.

Make a connection

In addition to gaining an understanding of gender-specific differences in shopping behavior, retailers could take a number of steps to increase the appeal of their store brand products to the all-important female demographic. For one thing, they could put more photos of people on store brand product packaging.

“Women respond more to seeing people,” Barletta explains.

Women also react positively to packaging that shows the food “in context,” she adds, and appreciate added value such as recipes on the back of a box or additional online marketing content.

“So it’s helping women in other ways that aren’t actually the product, but they are related to the life situation that the product solves,” Barletta says.

An emphasis on health benefits also connects well with women, Morrison says.

“Women often are looking at health as a driver for themselves and also for their children, for their families,” she emphasizes. “Health and wellness is a slippery slope, but I think almost every food product these days is chosen based on some type of health screen … even a chosen indulgence.”

Retailers that opt to communicate to women “by tapping into their true personal motivations” should see success on the store brand side as well, Chung says.

“Retailers have the opportunity to influence women to have more positive expectations of themselves, ones that are more in line with their own motivations — those of real women today,” she maintains. “Understand her internal motivations, be empathetic and solve her needs in an honest, trustworthy and authentic way.”