Friday Musings - Why Women Love Shoes
January 18, 2013
I don't actually know why women like shoes so much. But, we do. I know that we like multiples of many things - different colors of the same blouse or pair of jeans and tons, yes tons, of different colored lipsticks (no, they are not all the same color and if you can't see the differences, well... you're not a girl).
We like to change up our bedclothes on a regular basis. I'm looking for a new bedspread for spring/summer right now. Something bright and colorful, to dress up the bedroom.
The history of women's shopping habits is an interesting web topic, but to say you understand why women buy, or how they shop, is a risky comment. You may 'think' you understand why the women in your life shop - your wife, or sister, or mother, or daughter; but do you really? Even if you followed them to their favorite store and watched them shop, you'd come away as clueless as ever - because each shopping trip is different than the one before.
Women are complex creatures. That's the be all and end all of understanding us. The common lament from men, "What do women want?" falls on deaf ears because women, as a collective, want different things than women as individuals may want. And, in the end, we all want the same things.
Did that help?
Here are the top 5 things women want from any brand...
(1) Women want to be respected. That means, involve us in the planning of your next product. Ask us what we liked or didn't like about your previous products. Don't ignore our Facebook posts and Twitter comments, as if they don't matter. We're sharing them for two reasons - we want to applaud or criticize to help you improve, and we want to make sure our friends know how much we love you - or not. Respect our opinions.
(2) Women want you to make life easy for us. If you're selling online, make the visuals easy, fun, and interactive. Let me choose how to view the product, or what color I want to see - show me accessories or comments from my 'friends'. We may not want to read long reviews ( we are always time-crunched), but we like that pithy note from a recent purchaser.
(3) Women want to have fun. And share it with others. Help us be sociable. Be creative and innovative in your social channels. We love playing games and entering contests. Don't assume we won't like something because we're women - investigate! Ask us!
Most marketing thinks we're all about cost or savings. If you pay much attention to marketing to women campaigns on TV or even the net, they all seem to apporach the sales process believing women spend their free time dreaming of visits to Walmart, because... it's cheap and easy. Which... must make us cheap and easy, I guess. Which we are not. Even those of us who shop at Walmart.
We're all high-maintenance - we like nice things - we enjoy making our families happy by shopping for them on special occasions - and we are big on communication.
Yes, we talk to each other. A lot.
(4) Women want you to tell them a story. A good story.The story of you - and why you started your company. Make the story colorful, show us your favorite vacation site or hotel, share a little memory from your childhood - don't lie. Then, ask us to tell you our story. That's called engagement...it's part of the communication we value so highly.
(5) Women want you to recognize that we buy everything - including our own cars, tires for those cars, electronics, tools for the garage, paint for the basement, leather jackets, and anything else you can think of. Don't limit our options!
And, we shop for shoes incessantly, online and offline. Just accept it - women love shoes.
Right now, I'm hunkering after the ones shown here.
The new line of shoes came out this winter and trends certainly portray the bold and beautiful about them.
Posted by: online womens shoes uk | February 06, 2013 at 09:18 AM