Ladies on line

South African women are spending an increasing amount of time online – and online retailers and advertisers that understand this changing demographic will be well positioned to cash in on this female boom, says local e-tailer NetFlorist.

Company executive Sue Morris says women are rapidly embracing the Internet as a communications medium, and adult women, who traditionally dominate consumer spending offline, are shifting more and more of their shopping online as well.

As this female influence spreads across the Internet, companies will need to tailor their marketing efforts to appeal more to women, including personalised mail campaigns and online community programs.

“There's no doubt that societal shifts are changing the online demographic mix in South Africa, and that this will have an impact on future Internet marketing and development efforts,” said Morris.

“Our own experience suggests that females have rapidly grown comfortable with technology and the Internet. In the US, women already comprised 51.6% of Internet users in 2004, and that figure has risen substantially. This growth is going to affect just about everyone who does business on the Internet.”

Morris says South African usage patterns tend to follow overseas trends, with several studies highlighting the differences in the way the two genders use the Internet. Although women visit fewer sites to find what they want, they also tend to be more efficient than males in their Web usage.

According to Frank About Women: Understanding Online Shopping Behaviour Topline Summary, published in March 2006, adult female Internet users typically visit four or more Web sites in the course of doing product research, while men use an average of nearly five. Women also appreciate good site content, as well as an experience that is built for ease and convenience.

In South Africa, anecdotal evidence suggests that retail destinations such as NetFlorist draw disproportionately large numbers of females to their sites. Morris says the growth of these and other shopping and travel sites is being driven by women accepting the Web as a way of conducting business.

Over half of US female Internet users aged 25 and older say the Internet is their main research source for checking out potential product purchases, according to Burst Media's Online Insight report published last month.

More than half of women surveyed said they had shopped online in the past six months, and that online shopping increased with household income. Major online buying categories for women in the past six months included travel, adult clothing and health and beauty products.

“These things have real implications for online marketers,” said Morris. “Powerful new search services are driving greater spending activity, and improved personalisation technology is allowing retailers to think more like their customers. We have to cater to this booming market.”