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Women's hearts offer clues to markets
(Shenzhen Daily )
Updated: 2006-02-07 10:29 Wang Suwei, 55, holds the
purse strings in her family. Each month, her husband hands his salary to her.
She gives him back 20 percent but decides how to spend the rest, from what kind
of shampoo to what brand of television to buy.
"Nowadays, we take things easy. Whatever we like to eat, we buy. If we want
to play, we play. If we want to sing, we go to the karaoke bar and sing," said
Wang, a dowdy looking housewife who is full of smiles.
Understanding the hearts of Chinese women is becoming increasingly important
for Chinese and foreign companies as they try to tap the lucrative China market
of 1.3 billion people, market research experts say.
Contrary to many other countries, Chinese women, especially in the middle
class, are calling the shots in household purchases, from homes to even
automobiles, they say.
"Women in their marriages in China have a lot of power and that obviously
translates into a lot of decision making power when it comes to consumer
spending," Tom Doctoroff, Northeast Asia director of the advertising
conglomerate J. Walter Thompson, said.
Seventy-seven percent of married women are the decision makers when it comes
to food, clothing and essential commodities, according to a survey conducted
recently by Huakun Consumer Guidance Center.
Women's personal income is also rising, said Yang Xiaoyan, a professor at the
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
"Unlike before, husbands nowadays do not always make more money. In China's
economic changes, women sometimes have an easier time finding jobs, because they
are more sought after in the growing service sector," Yang said.
Women from the countryside working as saleswomen or maids often earn more
than their husband.
"The most dramatic changes have happened to Chinese women in the past
decades," Jesse Price, chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce
Shanghai's marketing committee, was quoted by the China Daily as saying
recently.
"American businesses are fascinated to know their female consumers, not just
facts and figures but also the cultural context underneath," Price said.
But Chinese women are not easy to understand.
"In Chinese society, women's main role is to be the loving wife, kind mother
— an angel, but there's always been latent ambition, so women in China are
extremely aggressive, but unlike American women, they have to project more
femininity because of their Confucian heritage," Doctoroff said.
"You can have a woman with power tools on her desk and they'll be decorated
with Hello Kitty stickers."
Shopping malls and stores are increasingly restructuring their layout and
marketing strategies to target women.
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