Fast Facts

Women Today

• 60% of US women 18-29 are single
• 33% more US women in their 20’s than men
• 5.5 million US College educated women vs 4.1 million men
• 31% increase in the number of US single women 30-34 between 2007-2012
• 26% of US adults 18-32 are married
• 52 % of the US population is single
• 48% of US adults are married vs. 78% in 1950

Spending

Global

• Women control over $20 Trillion in world-wide spending.
  (Source: Muhtar Kent, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, October 2010)

United States

• Women control $7 Trillion in U.S. spending

Women Account for 85% of overall consumer spending including everything from autos to healthcare.

• 93% Food
• 93% OTC Pharmaceuticals
• 92% Vacations
• 91% of New Homes
• 89% Bank Accounts
• 80% Healthcare
• 66% PCs
• 65% New Cars
• 58% of Total Online Spending
  (Source: Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team)

Processing Information & Making Decisions

Women process information and make purchasing decisions differently than men.

• 91% in one survey said that advertisers don’t understand them
• 84% feel misunderstood by investment marketers (Source: Yankelovich Monitor)
• 74% feel misunderstood by automotive marketers
• 70% of new businesses are started by women
• 66% feel misunderstood by health care marketers
• 59% of women feel misunderstood by food marketers
  (Source: Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team)

Shopping Habits

• A majority of women, 84%, create shopping lists before they go to the store.
• More than three in four women, or 78%, consult shopping circulars when creating their shopping lists.
• 61% of women are more likely to include an item on the their list if they’re currently using the brand, 57% if they have a coupon, or 56% if they have seen the item in a store ad or circular.
  (Source: Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research, 2012)
• 10% of women will stop shopping at a particular retailer because of inconvenient locations, 6% due to lack of deals, and
• 5% because of unavailability of desired sizes.
  (Source: BIGinsight, 2012)

Education

• The Department of Education estimated in 2013, that women earned 61.6% of all associate’s degrees, 56.7% of all bachelor’s degrees, 59.9% of all master’s degrees, and 51.6% of all doctor’s degrees.
• Overall, 140 women graduated in 2013 with a college degree at some level for every 100 men.
• Women have earned the majority of bachelor’s degrees for every college class since 1982 and the female share of degrees has risen every year.
• Since 1982, women have earned 4.35 million more bachelor’s degrees than men (22.43 million for women vs. 18.08 million for men).
• For all college degrees, women have earned 9.7 million more degrees than men (44.1 million for women vs. 34.4 million for men) since 1982.
  (Source: American Enterprise Institute, Carpe Diem, Mark J. Perry, 2013)

Careers

• The number of women-owned firms increased by 54% between 1997 and 2012 – that’s a rate 1 1/2 times the national average.
  (Source: New York Times, January 2013)
• 66% of employed adults are women.
• 65% of business owners are women.
  (Source: National Entrepreneurial Attitudes Study, Linkage Research, 2013)
• The average American woman is expected to surpass the average American male in earnings by 2028.
  (Source: Nielson, 2009)

Millennials

• 96% list “being independent” as their single most important life goal
• 87% define success as being able to shape their own future
• Only 68% say becoming a mom is on their priority list
• 50% say getting married is a priority
• Just 43% ascribe much importance to getting rich
  (Source: Levi’s survey of 1,000 Millennials, 2010)

Spreading the Word

• A study of 2,000 women in Canada and the U.S. showed that traditional web sites (70%) have now surpassed traditional forms of word-of-mouth (58%) as their preferred method for getting the word out about products and services.
• The study also found that only 28% of women decide what products or services to buy without looking for some kind of help.
• 58% of women (18+) share both good and bad experiences online
• 36% share to help others make smart purchases
• 27% are asked to share
• 15% share their expertise
  (Source: Harbinger Women and Word of Mouth Study, October 2010)

Business Purchases

• 62% of women business owners question whether the companies they buy from understand their needs as business owners.
• 76% question whether most companies understand their needs as women.
  (Source: Entrepreneur Tracking Study, Linkage Research, 2013)As women increasingly populate the ranks of management, it makes sense to gain a clearer understanding of the role that gender plays in B2B selling and service delivery.
  (Source: Harvard Business Review, 2013)As of 2010, women were:
• 55% of purchasing agents
• 46% of purchasing managers
• 52% of wholesale and retail buyers
• 69% of HR managers
• 59% of financial managers
  (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010)

Healthcare

• Almost half of U.S. women believe that society values women’s health less than men’s health.
  (Source: Ogilvy PR, 2011)
• Women account for approximately 60% of those who researched doctors online.
  (Source: Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey, 2009)
• Women account for 60% of all hospital admissions. The impact that quality women’s health has on our nation is tremendous.
  (Source: The 6th Annual HealthGrades Women’s Health in American Hospitals Study, June 2009)
• More than 80% of healthcare purchasing decisions are made by women.
  (Source: Daria laBckwell, Knowledge Clinic Inc., at Women’s Health and Wellness Conference, 2008)

Health & Beauty

• Women account for 93% OTC pharmaceutical purchases
  (Source: Tom Peters, in the forward to Marketing to Women, by Marti Barletta)
• The average black woman spends 3 times as much on beauty products compared with the average woman.
  (Source: Procter & Gamble Co., P&G/Essence poll)

Finance

• 93% of women say they have significant influence on what financial services their family purchases.
  (Source: The Financial Brand, December 2013)
• Women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S. over the next decade and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history.
  (Source: Mediapost, April 9, 2013)
• Financial services companies admit that, historically, they haven’t done a great job of attracting women as customers, but with women rising fast on the income and managerial ranks, they’re now paying more attention. The number of women-owned firms increased by 54% between 1997 and 2012 – that’s a rate 1 1/2 times the national average.
• Recent research by Vanguard Group’s Asset Management & Advice Services Division found that women differ substantially from men in how they relate to investing. They don’t want to hear about the growth or comparative performance of different funds; they want information about reaching their long-term goals, like putting a child through college.
• Just 20% of female breadwinners said they were ‘very well prepared’ to make wise financial decisions, versus 45% of their male peers.
  (Source: New York Times, January 2013)
• In the five year period between 2006 and 2011, the number of women in the US earning a greater share of income than their husbands rose from 13% to 16%.
  (Source: GfK Roper Reports, 2012)
• In 2011, women’s earning power will recover from the recession far quicker than that of men.
  Women have always made the majority of household spending decisions, but they will have even more purchasing power as they contribute more money to their households.
  (Source: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, December 2010)In the Penn Mutual 2nd Annual Worth Survey for Women, 71% of respondents characterized themselves as Independent Women:
• Women who characterize themselves as independent are more likely to be on track with respect to paying off debt (33% vs. 19% of non-independent women), building up their savings (26% vs. 18% respectively), and guaranteeing they will maintain or enhance their lifestyle during retirement (26% vs. 17%).
• Independent women are significantly more likely than those who do not view themselves as independent to say they are on or ahead of target for being able to save for future travel (29% vs. 18%), and save for a home remodel (20% vs. 10%).
  (Source: Penn Mutual 2nd Annual Worth Survey for Women, 2010)

Technology

• Eight in 10 women consider themselves to be interested in technology.
• 41% of those women saying they are very interested.
• Products that topped women’s purchase lists, in order: smartphones, tablets, laptops, HDTVs, digital cameras and headphones.
  (Source: Consumer Electronics Association, June 2013)
• Female gamers over 55 spend more time online gaming than males ages 15 to 24.
  (Source: Ford Motor Company and Trendwatching.com study, 2013)
• Notably, more women (33.4%) will/did use a smartphone and/or tablet device(s) to shop for and purchase back-to-school items.
• Overall, one-half (49.0%) of female respondents – including 3-in-5 (58.6%) moms – visit social media sites at least a few times per day.
• 44.4% of women say social media is a good way to keep up with the latest content. Other reasons include sharing content with family and friends (40.9%), sharing personal opinions or comments (26.7%) and seeing what other fans or followers are saying about the content (25.4%).
• Staying current with the brand’s latest offerings is a top reason to follow brands on social media cites, one-half (50.1%) of moms who follow brands cite this reason.
  (Source: Burstmedia, 2012)
• 56% of women in the US use social networking sites:
  – 58% of Facebook users are women
  – 64% of Twitter users are women
  – 82% of Pinterest users are women
  (Source: Mashable, 2012)
• Women in Western countries use the internet 17% more every month than their male counterparts
  (Intel, Genevieve Bell, 2012)
• Six out of 10 women initiate or are involved in CE purchase decisions

Automobiles

• About 15% of truck buyers are female, and many other women use the truck their significant others buy.
  (Source: MediaPost July 2013)
• Women are more likely than men to drive less, have a lower fatality rate per distance driven, and tend to purchase smaller, safer, and more fuel-efficient cars.
  (Source: University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, 2012)
• In 2011, women made up over 40% of purchasers of 14 auto brands.
  (Source: TrueCar.com, 2012)
• Women buy more than half of the new cars in the U.S., AND influence up to 80% of all car purchases.
• Women also request 65% of the service work done at dealerships.
• Women spend over $200 billion on new cars & mechanical servicing of vehicles each year.
• 45% of all light trucks and SUVs are purchased by women.
  (Source: Women-Drivers.com, 2010)
• Women continue having poor experiences when trying to buy a car.
  3/4 of women surveyed say they feel misunderstood by car marketers.
  (Source: Forbes, 2010)

Sports

• 46% of self-identified MLB fans are women
• 44% of NFL TV viewers are women, up from 34% in 2011
• More women watch the Super Bowl than the Oscars – 46% of the viewers for that game are women, up from 14% in 2002
• The NFL reports that spending on women’s apparel has risen 76% since 2010
• Products that are made specifically for women make up 17% of sports apparel, whereas eight years ago it was close to zero
  (Source: Businessweek, November 2013)
• Super Bowl survey: 44% of women say they prefer ads to any other aspect of the game
  (Source: Lab42 Research study, 2013)
• Of the NFL’s 185 million fans, 45% are women
• Half of all NFL fans classify themselves as “avid”, and one-third of those fans are women
• Slightly more women than men classify themselves as “casual” fans of the NFL
  (Source: Businessweek, September 2013)

Home Improvement

• Women initiate 80% of home improvement purchases, and do most of their pre-purchase research online rather than in-store.
  (Source: Chicago Sun Times, June 2013)

Spirits

• Middle-aged women account for 62% of vodka purchases made in stores. About 60% of the growth in US spirits consumption is in the vodka category.
  (Source: Diageo, February 2010)