NEW YORK — Eighty-five cents of every dollar earned by marketers comes from women, said Mary Lou Quinlan, CEO of Just Ask a Woman, in her keynote address yesterday at the Direct Marketing Association's DMD New York Conference & Exhibition at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
“Women are the most powerful consumers today,” Quinlan said.
They also are the most talkative and generous when marketers are willing to listen, she added.
Quinlan attributed some of the slumping sales in retail to a lack of service by retailers as well as an unwillingness to listen to what women have to say.
She cited women's clothing retailers Chico's and Limited as marketers that are getting it right. Chico's scores big with its demographic by using a simple sizing system and offering comfortable, washable merchandise, she said. Limited does well by offering young women a lot for their money through promotions.
Quinlan stressed that the first impression a marketer makes is often the only chance it will be given by women. Whether it's bad or good, they will tell people, she said.
