International Women’s Day Female Purchasing Power
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March to commemorate women’s achievements, from political to social, while serving as a call for gender equality. To mark the day, we uncover insights about modern women shoppers and how they’re using their spending power.
Health and beauty
Beauty and wellness is a billion-pound business predominately dominated by women. Data from our Usage Care services, shows women spend over double the amount on health and beauty over the course of a year then men do. This includes adding professional beauty treatments into their regular regimes with treatments such as nail care and hair removal, up 9% from the previous year.
Although beauty treatments are up, a growing trend across all age groups in women, is moving towards a more natural look. Cosmetics sales are down by 11% with 200,000 fewer women buying into the market this year versus 2017. Women who work from home are wearing make up on average five times less per week than women who don’t, also aiding to the decline.
Health conscious women
Women are becoming more health conscious, 74% of women said that they try to lead a healthy lifestyle. This translates into their purchasing decisions, for instance more women are buying into vitamins, minerals, and supplements ( +2.1% versus 2017).
A recent study from Kantar shows, despite British yummy mummies saying they have less time, they are the group who are more likely to be interested in their personal appearance and spend more on beauty products than women without children. This is the group who are more likely to choose natural products when they have children under the age of two.
Buying books
In general, women make more browsed and impulse purchases when shopping for physical entertainment, therefore female spend is more valuable to the industry as they are investing more incremental spend into the entertainment categories. When it comes to literature for example, women are 6% more likely to make an impulse purchase.
Women gamers
The stereotype of the teenage boy playing video games alone in his bedroom is history, along with the notion that female gamers are exclusively interested in casual smartphone games. Although, 60% of female spend on games is directed towards gifting, women are buying more for themselves in gaming, 20.5% of spend is for their own use, up from 17.2% this time last year.