Insights into female marketing trends!

With the development and penetration of mobile Internet, the scale of female users has been increasing year by year, including further penetration of female users in shopping, consumption, life and entertainment. Combined with the marketing cases of major brands about women in recent years and the improvement of public awareness under social opinion, it is not difficult to find that the important position of the female group in the entire consumption wave is becoming more and more prominent.

The prominence of this status is not just about the increase in the share of the female market, but more about opening up a business route with a "female perspective" centered on "female power", thereby promoting changes in product models and operating paths in some industries.

Especially now, as the entire industry is undergoing rapid iteration and innovation, "her consumption" is also rapidly updating and upgrading along with multiple factors such as market development and user demand. So what is the upgrade trend of "her consumption"? What kind of marketing methods and traffic codes are involved? Next, we will interpret them one by one.

01. Her needs are complex, so we need refined marketing and multi-dimensional influence

The Chinese female consumer market is huge, which is due to the popularity of online consumption. Online shopping habits have deeply penetrated female consumer groups of all ages and cities.

At the same time, with the increase in women's disposable income and the awakening of self-awareness among women in the new era, the consumption concept of the female group has shifted towards quality consumption and self-satisfaction, which in turn has led to an increase in women's consumption willingness and consumption capacity for high-priced products.

Source: Weibo.com "Insights into Brand Social Media Trends Driven by Female Consumption Concepts in 2022"

Against this backdrop, we can see that women in the new era often have multiple roles, and the factors that influence their consumption decisions are more diverse due to their different roles. For example, for self-pleasing consumption, on the one hand, it is about quality and happy living, and on the other hand, it is about caring about cost-effectiveness; for being the backbone of the family, on the one hand, it is about rational allocation of consumption, and on the other hand, it is about high-quality life that is both internal and external; and there is also the type of breaking prejudices, on the one hand, it is about breaking shackles and seeking innovation against the trend, and on the other hand, it is about craving everyone's recognition.

In summary, it is impossible to define new-age women with a unified and definite label; their consumption concepts are diverse and dialectically unified. Since it is diverse, what is the appropriate entry point for brands to accurately enter? In fact, from a systematic perspective, consumer products for women can basically be divided into five categories: personal care and daily necessities, beauty and skin care, maternal and child care, food and beverages, and shoes and accessories.

Let’s first look at personal care and daily chemicals. Data shows that the social media business in the home appliances and healthcare industries is growing rapidly. This reflects that contemporary women are more focused on "quality" and "self-pleasure" in daily chemicals. The beauty industry is essentially highly dependent on the grass-promoting ability of vertical bloggers. In addition, the beauty industry is seriously involuted, so the overall industry development and actions are relatively mature. However, the demand for fragrance products has surged, which may be a new breakthrough in the category.

Source: Weibo.com: Insights into Brand Social Media Trends Driven by Female Consumption Perceptions in 2022

Of course, the olfactory economy also reflects contemporary women's expectations for the "quality" of life and the "happiness" that small objects can bring.

Under the premise of health, food and beverages can be subdivided into "sweet economy", "tipsy consumption", "functional beverages", "fast food trend", etc. Just by looking at the subdivisions, one can sense the degree of its internal circulation. However, food and beverages are rigid demands, and overall iteration is slow. In addition, the industry is extremely channel-dependent, so how to lead industry trends has become a core issue in the current food and beverage industry.

Product launches in the maternal and infant industry are showing a centralized trend, with the diaper industry accounting for a relatively high proportion of transaction volume. At the same time, the target population is also deeply anchored on the new generation of mothers born after 1985 and 1990. Compared with the overall trend of the industry, the credibility and reputation of maternal and infant industry brands can often better guide users' consumption decisions.

When it comes to footwear, clothing and accessories, women in the new era tend to pay more attention to the technological sense, practicality and usage scenarios of products. Of course, personalized niche style brands and brands with celebrity effects and new Chinese aesthetics are also attracting the audience of women in the new era.

Source: Weibo.com: Insights into Brand Social Media Trends Driven by Female Consumption Perceptions in 2022

Looking at the data trends of these five categories, we can find that although the development trends and trends of each industry are different, they are actually not out of the scope of the most essential needs of users, such as the freshness brought by brand innovation, the happiness brought by small but certain moments, the sense of quality brought by exquisite home furnishings, etc. After all, the lives of women in the new era are rich in layers. Brands should focus on two aspects from a female perspective:

• On the one hand, it focuses on the neglected needs of women, cuts into details, and provides unexpected choices with personalized services, which is essentially refined services that exceed user expectations;
• On the other hand, it continuously outputs the brand through experience, providing users with physical value while also building their emotional foundation, thereby achieving multi-dimensional influence.

02. Changes in women’s consumption concepts: rooted in “her insights” and stimulating “her consumption”

In addition to focusing on changing trends in the market and brands, we should also pay attention to changes in physical needs and consumption concepts on the user side, which are mainly reflected in three aspects: her insight, her consumption, and her platform.

Let's first look at her insights. In recent years, with the improvement of public awareness and the strengthening of women's influence, the pursuit of equality, self-pleasure and comfort has become the main theme of the contemporary female group to achieve "pursuit of expectations". Even some women's related festivals are promoted by brands and media to create this kind of "self-realization" value to please and gain recognition.

Therefore, group equality and individual pursuit of self-realization will be the core of women's marketing for a long time. Outside of this core are the so-called trends, cost-effectiveness, product innovation, etc.

Source: Weibo.com: Insights into Brand Social Media Trends Driven by Female Consumption Perceptions in 2022

Regarding her consumption, part of it was mentioned above. From a macro perspective, there are mainly two parts. One part is the penetration of new consumer brands that gives women a new consumption experience. The other part is the extension of industry segmentation categories under the trend of new consumption.

For example, in the household appliances industry, the traditional industry is divided into large household appliances and small household appliances, while new consumption is divided into small kitchen appliances, personal care small appliances, etc., and further subdivided into vertical categories such as small pet appliances, smart home systems, etc. In short, the more refined and high-quality solutions are, the more likely they are to win the favor of female users.

In the public's perception, Xiaohongshu and Weibo are the first choice of platforms, but objectively speaking, the transaction volume of Xiaohongshu and Douyin platforms maintains rapid growth, Kuaishou has great potential, and platforms like Weibo and Bilibili have entered a period of negative growth. It is difficult to say whether there will be any qualitative change in this regard in the future, but as of now, Douyin and Xiaohongshu are still emerging forces among all platforms.

Overall, if brands want to win "her attention" under the trend, they should still be based on "her insights", maintain an appropriate distance, not try to please her too much, not create conflicts, and slowly approach her through recognition in a parallel way. At the same time, they should continue to innovate on the product side, refine operations, focus on the "her platform" on the marketing side, and co-create brand content to win "her consumption".

03. Summary

Female marketing has always been a relatively sensitive topic for brands. The sensitive point is that if the views are conventional, there will be no traffic. Once they skirt the rules or have loopholes in the views, they will easily cause criticism from the entire network. There are many precedents for this.

In addition to creating products, experiences, and services that exceed user expectations, the key to successful marketing to women is to establish a sense of equality at the starting point. A brand’s values ​​can be diverse and may even be inconsistent with those of users. The core is still equal dialogue rather than educating consumers.

The second is recognition. Different opinions can also express recognition and support. Recognition is understanding and harmony in diversity. Finally, it is to unify positions, break down prejudices and eliminate anxiety.

Finally, returning to the underlying logic, female marketing is actually the two flags of a brand, one is the viewpoint and the other is the value. We hope that the brand can carry this flag well, impartially, to give users a clear brand stance and to set a good example for other brands.