If money talks, then some young women are making a powerful statement with their pocketbooks. This is particularly true of a new segment of professional women in Asia called the "Gold Misses."
Gold Misses is a play on the word "old misses," which means unmarried women, but differentiates itself to highlight the group's massive consumption power. Gold Misses have emerged in Asia as more and more women become better educated, enter higher paying jobs, and then delay marriage (PDF). Even after marriage, many working women have few or no children. The overall result is that professional women have more disposable income to purchase a wider range of products, such as houses, financial services, durables, and especially luxury goods.
Despite the global recession that has dampened demand in many industries, the luxury market is still holding strong. Such continued growth in this sector is being led by new drivers of sales — latecomer countries to luxury, such as China, and fresh lead users like the Gold Misses.
In South Korea, the Gold Misses have become consumer icons, as they influence the demand of not only their peers but also scores of wannabes who aspire to their glitzy lifestyle. In fact, the latter's more ostentatious consumption pattern was the inspiration for Psy's satirical "Gangnam Style" music video.
In China, the Gold Misses are called the shengnu, and its contrasting double meaning of "leftover women" and "holy (as in hard to approach) goddesses" reveals their evolving status in Chinese society. The number of never-married women in urban China is estimated to be about 7 million. But since this demographic trend is influenced by economic growth, that size will easily increase as China — and specifically its women — continue to advance.
In India as well, career-oriented women are flexing their spending muscle with income in urban centers doubling over the last decade, enabling them to independently purchase items like apartments, cars, and insurance plans as never before. Looking at China and India alone, BCG estimates that by 2020 their female economies combined will account for $5 trillion annually with professional women fueling some of the next wave of growth.
For companies wanting to better position themselves in this region and to this expanding segment, the following strategies can be some effective first steps:
1. Help them to stand out. These young women see themselves as cultural pioneers, whether as professionals or as consumers. Their purchasing behavior also reflects their desire to not just follow the herd mentality but instead to be trendsetters. The level of marketing individualization to them thus needs to be greater as compared to the communal style of marketing that is sometimes required in Asia. Such a strategy may have worked for Starbucks in China where, as in other places, its customized drinks and personalized service appeal to people who want to embrace their individuality.
2. Create ripple effects to their followers. The product and brand preferences of the Gold Misses can become the catalyst for mass demand among their followers who want to emulate, even at a basic level, their role models. For luxury brands, this kind of social hierarchy has led to greater sales of less expensive "logo" lines. Sometimes this dynamic occurs cross-nationally, such as between South Korea and Southeast Asia, where the former's portrayal of successful women in soap operas impacts trends abroad, such as in clothing and hairstyle.
3. Establish a digital and social commerce presence. The Gold Misses enjoy and can afford to indulge themselves, but they do not have the time to shop. The solution here can be digital commerce. Asian women are prone to shop online two times more than their Western counterparts, and 81% of these purchases are made for herself only. Niche social networks like Pinterest and Instagram have experienced explosive popularity in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, and generate traffic to global and local downstream sites. For foreign firms, setting up such digital beachheads to an influential segment can ease their brick-and-mortar entries that come later on.
As Asia becomes a new hub of global economic activity, companies may capture new opportunities by tapping into one of that region's future movers and shakers — its rising professional women.
via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/asias_key_new_segment_powerful.html
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