The Female Economy

Female Economy
As a market, women represent a large opportunity than chinaware and India combined. So why are companies doing such a poor job of serving them? | by Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre

The

w
46 Harvard Business Review
|

omen now drive the world economy.

Globally, they support about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that ?gure could wax as high as $28 trillion in the next ?ve years. Their $13 trillion in total every year earnings could reach $18 trillion in the akin period. In aggregate, women represent a growth market larger than China and India combined more than twice as big, in fact. Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or undervalue the female consumer. And yet many companies do just that, nonetheless ones that are con?dent they have a winning strategy when it comes to women. Consider Dells short-lived campaign to market laptops speci?cally to women. The company fell into the classic make it sound mind-set with the May 2009 launch of its Della website. The site emphasized colors, reckoner accessories, and tips for

September 2009

|

hbr.org

Marcos Chin

hbr.org

|

September 2009

|

Harvard Business Review 47

The Female Economy

The lands Largest Opportunity
A growth forecast (in trillions)

$1.



8T $18T $13T
2009 2014 2014

$4.4T 2014
2009

$6.6T

$1.2T
2009

Female income

Chinas GDP

Indias GDP

counting calories and ?nding recipes. It created an uproar among women, who described it as slick but disconcerting and condescending. The blogosphere reacted quickly to the companys very special site for women. Austin Modine of the online tech publication The Register responded acidly, If you thought computer shopping was a genderneutral affair, thus youve obviously been struck down by an acute fount of female hysteria. (Nine out of ten Victorian-age doctors agree.) The New York Times state that Dell had to go to the school of marketing hard knocks. Within...If you inadequacy to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



If you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my paper