Role of Women in Shaping Consumer Trends

✍️ Opinions

Varun Bhardwaj

08 Mar 2025 — 4 min read

The Role of Women in Shaping Modern Consumer Trends

This article has been contributed by Ms. Waseka Syeda, Brand Manager, RedoQ.

As March 8th, globally celebrated as Women’s Day, approaches, it is important to recognise the role women play in shaping consumer trends. Globally, they make up a significant portion of the consumer base, yet their needs are often overlooked in business strategies and product development. Despite their growing economic influence, many brands fail to fully understand their preferences, leading to a disconnect between supply and demand. However, recent shifts in market dynamics have spurred the rise of women-led businesses that prioritise female consumers. These companies recognise the importance of catering to real needs rather than perceived ones, setting a new standard for market engagement.

Understanding the Demography and its Issues

Women make up half the population of the globe. Yet, when surveys are conducted on their consumption habits and inclinations, a large percentage complain that brands do not really understand them or their requirements. The issue becomes glaringly obvious once we look at the executive makeup of such companies. While a lot of the mid-level managers are women, their presence drastically drops as we go higher up, which essentially means that major decisions and strategies are made with very little to no input from women.

The good news is that this scarcity has caused a push in the right direction over the last decade with more women-led businesses cropping up. These enterprises are operating with the philosophy of “By the women, for the women.” For example, two Indian brands, namely Bliss Club and Fair and Equal (FAE) Beauty, have taken over the market with their premium quality products tailored to fit women’s needs. Most women have struggled with the lack of proper pockets in their clothing. Bliss Club understood this struggle, and founder Minu Margaret offered leggings and activewear with functional pockets in different sizes. Similarly, FAE Beauty has focussed on inclusivity as they are creating cosmetics suited for the Indian skin tone.

These companies are aligned and attuned to understanding women's requirements and their values. Understanding the driving force behind women’s purchasing decisions helps in building a blueprint for marketing strategy. This includes women’s consumption and expenditure habits, which are often influenced by factors such as quality or social responsibilities. For example, most women prefer high-quality items when it comes to kitchenware. Furthermore, with more social consciousness, women prefer to support companies that practice ethical ways of manufacturing, such as fair wages and sustainability.

Contrary to popular belief, women tend to be cautious consumers compared to the other half of the population. According to the Lifestyles Survey of the Euromonitor International Voice of the Consumer conducted in 2023, 46.3% of females look at deals before making a purchase and go for value for money products. Reportedly, women have a lesser percentage of debt and a higher percentage of savings. They also tend to be the larger spenders on a daily basis, and actively contribute towards the majority of the household purchasing decisions. Therefore, sales and marketing gimmicks for upselling everyday items, such as soaps and razors, by packaging them in women-specific labels and imposing the Pink Tax do not justify the unnecessary financial burden it causes, especially when women are already struggling with a wage gap at the workplace.

Industry Booms

In 2009, Johnson & Johnson spent twice the industry standard average (~4%) of their budget on Consumer Research & Development. This gave the company a unique edge over its competitors as it had a data-backed understanding of its female customers. The insight from the research benefitted them greatly. For example, they launched a line of baby products to aid sleeping babies. The product line was created based on the data acquired from a clinical study conducted with a paediatric sleep expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This established a precedence for the fulfilment of women’s requirements instead of tokenism, and for the first time, discovered the untapped potential of female consumers.

This situation highlights a basic economics lesson: where there's demand, supply follows. The issue isn't a lack of products for women, but that the market is saturated with products aimed at fulfilling assumed requirements of women. A very small set of industries caters to women’s true needs today. These include the Beauty, Fitness, Apparel, and Healthcare industries. These industries have identified the requirements over the years, and developed and implemented curated strategies that align with women’s needs. As a result, these industries contributed around $6.3 trillion towards the global GDPin 2023.

However, this consciousness of companies catering to females is not limited to merely industries of Beauty, Fitness, Apparel, and Healthcare. As more women gain financial independence and experience freedom of purchase, other sectors like Tech and services are going to see dedicated product developments for women.

The Future is Female

Understanding women's consumption patterns and financial behaviour is essential for brands aiming to build lasting connections and drive sustainable growth. It is important that companies and brands stay in sync and updated with female consumer trends to meet their demands with real-time solutions and supply. This way, brands can form a loyal and lasting consumer base with women and become the key to sustained market growth.