Article by Yvonne DiVita

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize the value of e-commerce. Having a web presence and marketing your products online for the ever increasing gazillions of users is just good, solid business sense. Despite last year’s debacle during the Christmas holidays, you can bet online buying will be back in full force for Christmas 2000. If you want to take part in the upcoming holiday rush, listen up.

I have one word for you: Women. Women are the largest group of webusers today, according to statistics from Forbes magazine, Business 2.0, and others. Within that demographic you will find that teenage girls are big spenders. It’s no secret that America’s teens are consumer savvy, web savvy, and have money to spend. Teenagers today, the emerging Gen Ys from 16-19, can’t remember a time when the Internet was not part of their lives. From Instant Messaging and Chat rooms, to research for homework, these kids are using the Internet as a Sweet Shoppe, which is what the after school gathering place was called before the World Wide Web. And they want results. Studies show that you have three seconds to get their attention. How do you do it? By appealing to their senses. They’re just miniature versions of their mothers, after all.

The Mom scene is very big on the World Wide Web. Out of the more than 13,000 websites listed under women on Yahoo!, more than 500 have ‘Mom’ somewhere in their domain name. ‘Mom’ is the person advertisers everywhere target more often than any other. Why? Because mothers buy more products than fathers, or CEOs, or Purchasing Directors, or teenagers, or their kids. They purchase the food for the family. They purchase the family clothing. They purchase the family furniture; yes, even Dad’s recliner. Mothers purchase non-gender items such as: shaving cream, razors, deodorant, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, books, beer… you name it. Mothers are the ones at the store or grocery, making that purchase. For those items Mom doesn’t purchase herself, you can bet she has influence over the person who does. New TV? Does Mom approve? New computer? Ask Mom first. New lawnmower, Mom will decide if Dad really needs it. New miniskirt? Not to school you don’t!

How do you get the Moms and teenage girls of the world to your site? Promise them the world. Okay, if you don’t have the world to promise, give them something for free. Free stuff is always good. Free is one marketing tool that has endured through more decades than you and I. It’s been used since the fifties when soap operas on television perfected the visual sales pitch. Free and New sold a lot of soap, and they continue to sell everything from hammers to hosiery. Keep your site new and offer free stuff. You can offer free advice; free shipping and handling; a free newsletter about your products or about your industry. Make your offer strong and useful, and it will keep Mom and Teena online long enough to see if you’re worth sticking to.

The second way to attract women to your site is color. Women love color. Entertain them while they’re cruising your site. Be creative with your visuals. Show them you appreciate their constant goal to improve; tease them with colorful ads and merchandise designed enhance their lives, their appearance, and their homes.

Which leads us to the best tool for attracting and keeping women. Change. Women don’t like to see the same thing every time they log on. Look at cosmetics companies. With each new season, cosmetics companies offer women a new color, a new compact in a new shape, a new grouping of eye shadows. They throw in a blush brush or extra lipstick, for free. Check out women’s magazines or go to your local department store and cruise the cosmetics counter. It’s all about making women feel good about themselves. You think they do it to please the men in their lives? They do it to please themselves!

Recently I participated in an online survey for a new bath product. This product is being marketed directly to women, and in particular, to mothers. Why? As we already determined, it’s because mothers do the most shopping. The survey wanted to know what I liked about the design of the product. It asked me what I liked about the advertising copy? I told the survey company what I thought of the different scents and the different qualities of the product. Lastly, I said Yes, I would buy it, for myself, and for my whole family. Why?

Although the product was a name brand, in and of itself, that didn’t swing me. What they did with their advertising convinced me to try this product. I was struck by the colorful package, by the design of the package, and by the advertising copy promising that this product would make me feel ‘special, warm, soothed, and beautiful’. Oooh! I wanted to have it right away!

It appealed to all of the issues I’ve mentioned here: my need, as a woman, to provide a useful product to my family; my need to feel important and valued; and my need to look and smell beautiful. It was colorful, new, and was being offered in a two-for-one sale. Will I buy it when it comes to a store near me? You bet. Would I go online to buy it? I’m definitely thinking about it. Follow this example, and I might buy from you. Maybe I’ll even bring my daughter. And my mother… and my sister… and…