The Female DIY Shopper
The U.S. Census Bureau tells us there are 241 million Americans aged 16 or older. Of this population that is old enough to drive, 51 percent are women. But according to NPD's Car Care Track consumer survey, women represent less than one-third of all DIY automotive product purchases. In an era where three women are about to sit on the Supreme Court simultaneously for the first time in history, the gender disparity in DIY automotive behavior seems stuck in another decade. In fact, women represent a declining percentage of DIY purchasers, falling from 35 percent five years ago to just under 31 percent today. While DIY activity may always be a predominantly masculine pursuit, it is fair to ask whether the aftermarket is doing enough to attract the female shopper.
What Women Want
Part of the decline in the percentage of female DIY purchasers may be symptomatic of the economy. Recent trends indicate strong sales in non-discretionary replacement parts as consumers seek to economically extend the life of their cars. Such heavy DIY parts category purchases are likely to skew the customer mix even more male due to traditional gender patterns. Car Care Track shows female DIY purchases are much more likely to purchase in discretionary categories such as air fresheners, interior accessories, and appearance products. These categories have been more severely affected by the economic downturn and likely contribute to the decline in female purchase percentage. But women are engaged in DIY repair and maintenance activity. So rather than let the economy be an excuse, we wanted to examine the female DIY shopping experience for insights into what makes female DIY consumers happy.
The female shopper typically is more discerning than her male counterparts on a wide variety of shopping experience attributes. She notices brands, pricing, promotions, and retail execution and forms a strong opinion. When rating customer experience on a five-point scale ranging from excellent to poor, a woman is more likely than a man to give an excellent or poor rating, while the male shopper often is more reserved in making an assessment. As a result, women are nine percent more likely than men to say their overall shopping experience was excellent. But fail just once to provide that excellent experience, and the female DIY consumer will take note. Women are twice as likely as men to assign a poor rating to the overall experience. Women are also three times more likely than men to say they definitely will not return to a particular retailer.
Women are paying close attention when they make DIY purchases, so manufacturers and retailers need to collaborate to make sure they get it right on attributes of importance to women. Perhaps women are better shoppers than men; price and value appear to be of high importance to the female DIY shopper. Women are more likely to give an excellent rating on "lowest price available," "coupons and incentives," and ́value for price paid." On the other hand, women are significantly more likely than men to assign poor ratings to "ease of finding what I wanted," "outlet/store neat and clean," and "had the item I wanted." When it comes to their assessment of whether they were made to "feel like a valued customer," women again are more likely to either assign excellent or poor ratings.
The Female Voice
Getting it right with women likely will create loyal shoppers, but underperforming on key attributes can be costly. The emerging post-recession values of vehicle longevity and repair over replacement are gender-neutral. The male heavy DIY shopper will remain critical to success for aftermarket manufacturers and retailers. But homing in on cultivating a female DIY following may be a valuable differentiator that provides incremental growth and outpaces the competition. Don't make the mistake of assuming the female DIYer isn't out there. Go here for a video excerpt from a prospective DIY customer and consider what you might do to win her business.
Learn More
For more information, contact Charlie Camaroto at 866-444-1411 (contactnpd@npd.com).
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