In an ideal world all businesses would be female friendly so that’d be a minimum standard for all.

But in male oriented environments like garages, car showrooms, DIY stores and computer/gadget shops among many others perhaps there is a need for these businesses to appreciate what women want and how they might attract more female customers in future.

Googling on ‘female friendly UK businesses’ and using the UK pages filter I find stories about making Lara Croft more female friendly, a female friendly cycle show in Hertfordshire and female friendly iPod and iPhone accessories.

Are they talking about a cynical  ‘pink’ marketing makeover and surface level message to attract fickle females or is this a genuine attempt to understand our shopping needs and give us what we want (to then benefit from our business…).

My experience is in the motor industry and there is a long way to go here.  Very few businesses are doing it right and when I talk to many car dealerships the word ‘complacency’ is the feeling I get in too many cases. There are huge opportunities here.

I’d like to see UK garages, dealers and franchised dealerships selling a message of safety, environmental issues and an ethical way of doing business in their future communications to women.  These are the underlying and influencing factors that can distinguish one business from another [complacent] one to pecuniary advantage.

I think that these aspects are MUCH more impressive than ‘women welcome’ signs at the door.

There is a risk in any female friendly marketing message of course that the business becomes too female oriented that it alienates its male audience -  it’s always a question of balance.

And businesses mustn’t patronise their female audience either. This is more complex I’d say. For example,  I have a personal problem with the use of the word ‘Madam’ for example. It makes me feel as if I am about to be awkward and it really offends me…

And many women insist on the use of Ms whereas others expect us to know when they are Miss – it’s not easy I accept.

As always the hunt is on for he or she that does it better, offering more for less.

Not just for women either but for men too.

Yet if the performance benchmark is set to satisfy fussy women (and aiming to please professional ie fussy shoppers is where customer service aspirations should be pitched imho…) then men are likely to be delighted as a consequence.

But beware of unintended consequence. I understand that a significant number of Sheila’s Wheels customers are gays and I doubt that was part of the Bank of Scotland’s marketing strategy when they came up with their TV ads. Or their underwriting risk portfolio for that matter!

FOXY Steph

Find out about female friendly local garages, dealers and franchised dealerships here…

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”
Oscar Wilde