Toronto, May 2010 – If you’re a woman, this may not seem immediately apparent when you walk into your local hardware store, shop for an SUV or try to negotiate with your average housing contractor, but you essentially run the economy. You control the lion’s share of spending in food, fitness, beauty, apparel, travel, entertainment, health care and financial services, according to a 2008 survey by the Boston Consulting Group. Combined, your annual earnings are expected to exceed US$18 trillion worldwide within the next five years, and your yearly spend is set to top US$28 trillion in the same time period.

Yet, when those same BCG researchers delved into your shopping experience – asking more than 12,000 women, drawn from a variety of income levels and geographies, about the service they generally receive—the responses were overwhelmingly negative. “Vastly underserved” was the two-word summation by the survey’s authors in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, concluding that “although women control spending in most categories... too many businesses behave as if they have no say in the purchasing decision.”

This is a huge missed opportunity for businesses, of course, but only if they insist on missing it. Carolyn Lawrence, president of Women of Influence Inc, a Canada-wide organization devoted to the advancement of professional women, sees a shift underway, in terms of the types of companies finally starting to target women, and the kinds of messages communicated. There are a number of traditionally male-focused enterprises such as banks and car makers that are now clearly trying to appeal to women consumers. And while both still have a long way to go, says Lawrence, at least they’re not falling into the “shrink it and pink it” trap.

“It’s very, very hard to change people’s opinions of your brand, but if you look at recent campaigns for Cadillac or Hyundai, for instance, you can see their making a big effort to be more female friendly.” ~ Ken Wong Queen's School of Business

Ken Wong, a professor of marketing at Queen’s School of Business, and a member of the American Marketing Association’s Hall of Legends, concurs that there is a shift underway, yet cautions that old impressions don’t change overnight. “It’s very, very hard to change people’s opinions of your brand,” says Wong, “but if you look at recent campaigns for Cadillac or Hyundai, for instance, you can see they’re making a big effort to be more female friendly”.

Part of the challenge is form, the other is function. And while major players are still managing to botch both— witness Dell’s recent launch, and almost immediate spiking, of its Della website, which featured pink tech accessories and tips for finding recipes— today’s leading companies, says Wong, are now trying to package their products and services together in a way that immediately works for women.

Few do it better than Shoppers Drug Mart, one of the most admired and successful retailers in Canada. Shoppers’ true genius is not in its sourcing of top-quality cosmetics, its loyalty card program or its large windows and bright ambience. Those all help, yet its real competitive advantage is its understanding of women. They realize that while women have huge consumer clout in this country, they have it precisely because most are juggling work, home and family demands. And when you’re grappling with so many conflicting priorities, the one thing you don’t have is time to waste.

It’s for that reason that Shoppers’ designs its stores, and product mix, to conform to most women’s packed lives. Here are the high-end beauty products, there are the groceries, one aisle over are the seasonal gifts, keep going and you’ll find the magazines, the post office, and the kids’ medications. Its name notwithstanding, Shoppers is now much more like a neighbourhood mini-department store than a pharmacy. That’s not an accident. In fact, it represents almost a case study collection of all of the elements so frequently cited as missing in the BCG survey. Shoppers also understands that women are more than just consumers. While generally publicity shy, much preferring the media’s attention to be on the brand itself, Shoppers’ CEO Jurgen Schreiber is now very visibly leading the Weekend to End Women’s Cancer campaign, rallying Canadians to support the cause.

Taken together, it is no surprise that Shoppers’ has expanded by over 300 stores in the past nine years, its profits have doubled in the last five, and it now stands unrivalled as the country’s top retailer.

Wong sees encouraging signs on campus that the message is sinking in. “There’s far less frat boyfocused advertising today,” he says, “and that extends across all brands, from car companies to financial services.” Ever the business professor, Wong frames the situation as much less of a problem and much more of an opportunity.

“Listen, we’re turning out masses of top-notch female grads every year who are going into managerial jobs and executive positions, and if you’re not marketing to them, then you are missing out on a huge, huge market.”