Mass affluent women consumers: fact sheet

Buying power of women

Women are responsible for an estimated 85% of consumer buying decisions in the US. Although the figure varies by industry, women are nearly always responsible for the majority of buying decisions, even in less traditional categories such as banking and new cars. (For industry-specific statistics and other extra content, see our expanded affluent women buyers fact sheet.)

Women control $3.3 trillion in consumer spending in the US and $20 trillion worldwide—a figure that's expected to grow to $28 trillion in the next several years. They're not just consumer buyers, either; they're frequently buying for their businesses or employers as well.

That means that at 15%, male audiences are the niche market.

Even corporations savvy enough to focus on the female consumer market tend to create dedicated ad campaigns and special-purpose websites targeting women, which is laudable. But they have it backward: simply by looking at the numbers, they'd do far better to focus their primary marketing on women.

Buying power of affluent women

Pair the buying power of the American woman with the fact that the mass affluent and the affluent—those living in households earning $75,000 to $200,000 in annual income—together make up nearly 28% of US households… but they have more discretionary income than 68% of US households.

Note: On this website we'll refer to the mass affluent and affluent simply as affluent, as distinguished from the very wealthy—the nearly 4% of US households earning more than $200,000 in annual income.

Consider too that so far, the economic recovery has been uneven. In February 2011 the Wall Street Journal noted that improving confidence and spending on the part of those with annual household incomes of $50,000 and above has been fueling the economy's rise while lower income households are still struggling; in late March 2011, it noted that roughly 40% of consumer spending is generated by the upper 20% of households. For companies looking to increase sales, affluent households hold the most promise.

In many cases, women are the primary breadwinners in affluent households: 67% of affluent women work, and many are at the executive level or own their own companies. (Business-to-business companies, take note!) In roughly 30% of dual-income households, women earn more than their male partners, while 20% earn more than twice his salary.

Regardless of who earns the most, though, women actively control the money in a majority of affluent households, even among a generation of women who left this to their husbands in the past... today, 80% of affluent boomer women control their family's day-to-day finances.

And regardless of whether she earns a majority of her household's income or not, remember: the affluent woman is your target customer. The primary wage earner isn't critical to your marketing plan; the one who makes the majority of buying decisions for the household is.

So, unless your company sells something that's required to stay alive, like utilities, sells products only the very wealthy can afford, or operates in a rare male-dominated industry—and don't assume yours is until you've seen your industry buying statistics by gender—the affluent woman is typically your bottom line's best shot at success.

What does the typical affluent female buyer look like? [ Next page ]

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