The Gender Intelligent Retailer E-Book

Joanne Thomas Yaccato

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 364

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

"Through engaging and direct analysis, Joanne Thomas Yaccato has drawn the line clearly for businesses--any successful client relationship strategy must consider the unique perspectives of women. Small, medium and large organizations can benefit from her witty and poignant observations." David I. McKay, Group Head, Canadian Banking, RBC "In a lifestyle based company, Joanne's thoughts come at you like a 'best friend' who's not afraid to keep you grounded. In our case, Joanne's perspective has allowed us to meet the changing needs of our customers over the years in a relevant and authentic way. The Gender Intelligent Retailer pushes the right buttons and creates dynamic conversations that make valuable differences in the retail shopping experience." Kerri Molinaro, President, IKEA Canada "Joanne has done it again...empowering not only retailers, but consumers, employers and employees with market insight we need to know, and in many cases, should have known by now. Her research and analysis is filled with practical examples that will be an eye-opening read for businesses wondering why they aren't connecting with the influential female consumer. The Gender Intelligent Retailer is a recipe for success." Mark Kelley, CBC News, The National "Joanne Thomas Yaccato has done us all a big favour. The Gender Intelligent Retailershows us the 'real' world of women consumers. By helping to open our eyes to the world we live in, the book opens the doors of opportunity. It is often difficult for old institutions first to recognize and then to react to our changed and changing demands as a society. Joanne and Sean help us see and then navigate the new world with sound insights and an eye that sees our follies and then focuses on a better way to meet the demands of the future." Premier Gordon Campbell, Province of British Columbia "Once again Joanne Thomas Yaccato has hit the mark with her new book The Gender Intelligent Retailer! Following on the footsteps of her previous bestseller - The 80% Minority - Joanne and her retail partner, Sean McSweeney, continue to unlock the secrets of marketing to women in an intelligent, caring, and holistic manner. She finds a way to intertwine humorous stories, imaginative analogies, and real life examples with quantifiable and powerful advice." Diane J. Brisebois, President & CEO, Retail Council of Canada

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

CHAPTER ONE - Down on the Farm . . .

WHY RETAIL IS LIKE FARMING

INCENTIVE TO MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO IN RETAIL

IT IS NOT ABOUT “MARKETING-TO-WOMEN”

CREATING AN ORGANIC OR GENDER-INTELLIGENT RETAIL ECOSYSTEM

CHAPTER TWO - The Beaver and the Octopus

MEN EMULATE THE SINGLE-MINDED BEAVER

WOMEN EMULATE THE MULTITASKING OCTOPUS

MORE BEAVER AND OCTOPUS . . .

LANGUAGE SKILLS

SPATIAL DIFFERENCES

WOMEN’S X-RAY VISION

EYE CONTACT IN THE NUDIST COLONY

THE THOUGHT PROCESS: WOMEN INTEGRATE, MEN ELIMINATE

ADVERTISING IMPLICATIONS

WHO’S EMOTIONAL?

WOMEN SEE THE GLASS HALF-EMPTY

THE NURTURE SIDE OF THE COIN

IT STARTS YOUNG

THE TRUTH ABOUT TIME

USE A HOLISTIC HEALTH LENS

SO HERE’S THE “SO WHAT?” PART

CHAPTER THREE - Going Beyond 2 × 4s and Nails

CASE STUDY: THE HOME DEPOT CANADA

CHAPTER FOUR - Organizational Readiness:

RETAIL’S CHALLENGES IN GOING ORGANIC

GENDER INTELLIGENCE REQUIRES “AWARE” LEADERSHIP

HOLDING UP THE SACRED COWS: DEFINING YOUR COMPANY’S CURRENT ECOSYSTEM

CASE STUDY: CLUTCH

COMMON GENDER-INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP THEMES

YOU’RE KIDDING! CAR INSURANCE?

CHAPTER FIVE - Allstate Transitions to Organic

A WOMAN’S PLACE . . . ?

DEFINING ALLSTATE’S CURRENT ECOSYSTEM

CONVERTING THE SKEPTICS

CREATIVELY USE BEST PRACTICES

LIVE IN THE CUSTOMER’S HIGH-HEELED SHOES

OPERATIONALIZING GENDER INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER SIX - Controlling Your Company’s PESTs:

TODAY’S WORLD OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

IT’S THAT LEADERSHIP THING AGAIN

WHO’S DRIVING THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TRACTOR?

IS YOUR “PRODUCT IDEA BANK” GENDER INTELLIGENT?

TAKING FLIGHT: THE BLUE JAYS

A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT—GENDER-INTELLIGENT MARKET RESEARCH

THE BEST MARKET RESEARCH: STAYING CLOSE TO YOUR OWN CUSTOMER

STAYING CLOSE TO THE CUSTOMER: SHANE HOMES

KEEPING IT REAL THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

GENDER INTELLIGENCE FROM BEGINNING TO END: MOUNTAIN SAFETY RESEARCH

CHAPTER SEVEN - Controlling Your Company’s PESTs:

WOMEN AND YOUR PHYSICAL SPACE

THE MALE BEAVER AND THE FEMALE OCTOPUS GO SHOPPING

YOU CAN START SMALL

CASE STUDY: PETRO-CANADA GETS NEIGHBOURLY WITH WOMEN

CHAPTER EIGHT - Controlling Your Company’s PESTs:

SELLING TO WOMEN IS MUCH MORE THAN YELLING

ADVERTISING: AN ENORMOUS PEST FOR MOST WOMEN

WHO ARE THESE WOMEN IN BROCHURES, ON TV AND IN MAGAZINES?

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU ARE TRYING TO GET ACROSS TO WOMEN?

HOW CAN COMPANIES USE DATA WOMEN HAVE GIVEN IN A WAY THAT ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING?

WHERE DO COMPANIES THINK WOMEN ARE?

WOMEN’S ONLINE “MUST-HAVES”

WHERE ELSE WILL YOU FIND WOMEN? IN THE COMMUNITY

CASE STUDY: BRUCE POWER

WHY ARE WOMAN CONSUMERS STILL HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?

CHAPTER NINE - Controlling Your Company’s PESTs:

THE SALESPEOPLE PEST

GENDER-BASED CULTURES

PROTECTING YOUR PEOPLE INVESTMENT

THE OCTOPUS AND THE BEAVER GO SHOPPING: REPRISED

CREATING A RETAIL CULTURE CHANGE THAT OUTLASTS EMPLOYEES

CHAPTER TEN - Mountain Equipment Co-op:

THE ORGANIC STANDARD RETAILER

MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP—“IT’S ABOUT THE JOURNEY . . .”

DETERMINE YOUR COMPANY’S ECOSYSTEM

GENDER-INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP

GREEN BUILDINGS

MEC PUTS GENDER-INTELLIGENT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ON THE RADAR

SALES TOOLS: MARKETING, ADVERTISING, AND THE WEB

TRAINING: CREATING GENDER-INTELLIGENT POINTS OF CONTACT

IN SUMMARY

CHAPTER ELEVEN - The Lay of the Land

BECOMING A GENDER-INTELLIGENT RETAILER

Index

More Praise for The Gender Intelligent Retailer

“When a woman walks into your store, she’s likely already packed the kids’ lunches, negotiated the need for socks with a crying toddler, organized dinner, and had a client breakfast . . . all before 10! If you don’t make her experience as positive as possible and treat her with respect, she’ll tell all her friends where not to shop. Find out the keys to success in Joanne and Sean’s comprehensive, witty, and practical guide. And here’s the good news: if you build it, they will come, women and men.”

Anne Kothawala, President, Canadian Newspaper Association

“Through an engaging collection of facts and stories woven together with sharp wit and humor, Joanne Thomas Yaccato provides practical guidance to awaken business leaders to a significant opportunity available in today’s marketplace. The Gender Intelligent Retailer brings to life a critical insight: transitioning to an organization that takes a holistic view inclusive of women consumers is not something you do, it is something you become.”

Kevin Regan, Executive Vice President, Investors Group

“Most business books use a ‘marketing to women’ lens when advising companies on the hows and wherefores of reaching women consumers. The Gender Intelligent Retailer makes quick work of that approach and nails the real business case for understanding women consumers. Using her concept of Gender Intelligence intertwined in a wonderful blend of case studies, hilarious personal anecdotes, hard-core research and ‘news you can use,’ Joanne Thomas Yaccato reveals that the real pay off for companies is simply this—make something women friendly, you make it everybody-friendly.”

Amanda Ellis, Lead Specialist, Gender and Development, The WorldBank Group

“The Gender Intelligent Retailer provides theory and practicum—what works and doesn’t work—and quantifies it. Thomas Yaccato and McSweeney nudge you outside your comfort zone with a holistic ‘gender conscious’ retail approach that promises to build a loyal shopping base and keep you ahead of the pack.”

Bob Kowynia, Manager, North American Advertising & Communications,Lennox Industries

“For those hoping to succeed in the coming decades, this book offers great insight into the influence with which gender-sensitive initiatives benefit the retail realm. It demonstrates how advantageous a female-friendly approach is to any contemporary business model and its subsequent bottom line. A must read!”

Rossana Di Zio Magnotta, Chief Executive Officer and President,Magnotta Winery Corporation

“As a marketing researcher, I am regularly asked to profile consumers to help companies create more audience-focused marketing strategies. One of the first things retailers might examine is the differences between men and women. The challenge is that these segments are so easy to identify but so difficult to understand. Joanne’s insights provide marketers and business leaders with the path to the big picture conversations and honest reflections that researchers would like to contribute to more often. She inspires the necessary shift from a simple focus on gender targets to a whole new way of thinking that may enable powerful growth and expansion for retailers and consumer-facing business.”

Robert Daniel, President, Maritz Research Canada

Copyright © 2008 by Joanne Thomas Yaccato and Sean McSweeney

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free 1-800-893-5777.

Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in this book. The publisher will gladly receive any information that will enable them to rectify any reference or credit line in subsequent editions.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Thomas Yaccato, Joanne, 1957-

The Gender Intelligent Retailer / Joanne

Thomas Yaccato, Sean McSweeney.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-73895-5

1. Women consumers. 2. Target marketing. 3. Marketing—Psychological aspects. 4. Selling—Psychological aspects. I. McSweeney, Sean, 1968- II. Title.

HC79.C6T.8’04 C2008-902162-2

Production CreditsCover design: Ian Koo Cover image: ©istockphoto.com/Kirsty Pargeter Interior text design: Tegan Wallace Typesetting: Thomson Digital Printer: Friesens

John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. 6045 Freemont Blvd. Mississauga, Ontario L5R 4J3

This book is printed with biodegradable vegetable-based inks on 60lb. recycled white paper, 100% post-consumer waste.

FP

To our children; Patrick, Connor, Kieran, Maeve and Kathleen (4/5ths of this list is Sean’s!), our long suffering and patient spouses, Michael and Nicole and, as always, our biggest fan club—our mothers, Karen Wheeler and Dianne Thomas Yaccato.

To retail managers working in an under-appreciated industry, who try to create value and innovation in a tough, fluid and dynamic business environment . . . and to the women consumers who actively nudge them along.

Acknowledgements

I’m always amazed where I find ideas and support for book projects, invariably in the oddest of places. Who’d have thought that the very earnest young man I interviewed for The 80% Minority five years ago from Mountain Equipment Co-Op would become a crucial member of my company’s team, let alone become my talented co-author. Sean’s retail expertise, but more importantly, his innate understanding of women consumers never ceases to amaze me. He teaches me every day.

Who would have thought the parent of the new kid in my daughter’s class would earn the highly-prized nickname of Helen “Pit Bull” Bullingham because she turned out to be such a committed and amazing (though devastatingly honest) technical adviser right to the very end.

I never dreamed that the new family that moved on our street would be former farmers and that Tim, the dad, held an MBA from Guelph’s prestigious Agricultural College. His command of all things “business” and “agricultural” gave this book the necessary glue to beautifully tie together otherwise disparate themes.

And when the inevitable waves of writer’s despair came crashing down, that unfailing presence in my computer, David Morash, always gave me the belly laugh I needed to help pull myself up by the proverbial boot straps.

It’s always an important boost to the writer’s psyche to get strong industry encouragement, which came our way through Rob Daniel, president of Maritz Research and Diane Briseboise, president of The Retail Council of Canada. They both supported this project in a myriad of very important ways and for that, Sean and I will be eternally grateful. The gang at Wiley also deserve special mention. Robert Harris, Jennifer Smith and Karen Milner took a grand total of 13 seconds to see the importance of this book and signed on right away. The writing/editing process was by no means easy. Special nod to Pam Vokey for being such a brilliant listener and being so adept at calming ruffled feathers.

No book ever gets to completion without my right hand and assistant of 15 years, Rosa Morra. It’s pretty simple, without Rosa—nothing—let alone a book, gets done. Lucy Tanguay, my very favourite business partner also added her wisdom and unique perspective throughout making The Gender Intelligent Retailer a much better book. OK. I’ll shut up now. It’s Sean’s turn.

Sean here. I’d like to acknowledge all of my teachers, coaches and mentors but there is one in particular that needs special mention. During my competitive days as a whitewater athlete, this coach told me to “paddle like a woman” because of my smaller stature. This fundamentally changed the way I thought about the world and led me to where I am today.

I want to thank all my colleagues at Mountain Equipment Co-op, an organization that I consider to be the finest retailer in the world. I have learned a great deal from my customers, co-workers and senior managers and they have significantly influenced my thinking. Thank you Don Serl, who taught me the value of rational, well-thought ideas and to not get distracted by the hype. I have had the good fortune to work for Steven Cross and Bob Matheson, who taught me what it means to be a retail professional.

To my co-author and mentor, Joanne Thomas Yaccato, who, five years ago, somehow managed to see something in me and helped me to “deliver” a book—my greatest professional achievement to date. Even more importantly, she taught me about delivering value and results in the real world of business. I am more grateful than words can express.

We both would like to thank our spouses, family and friends who have spent two years of their lives with this book as their constant companion. My 13-year old daughter Kate has grown up with “author” mom and has been through this process six times. Thankfully, she (along with my very patient husband Michael) has developed a cavalier attitude to mom’s bizarre hours and wild writer mood swings. It’s become “no-biggy”. However, Sean is new to this game. He in particular thanks his circle for all for their patience and love during a very steep learning curve, while balancing life as a novice author, father of four (under 9), active athlete and working for a pay cheque at MEC.

Finally, we’d like to thank the women consumers of the world who give Sean and I what we need to get it right. They are patient, intelligent, innovative, humourous and powerful, something every retailer should strive for.

Preface

Most of us live in disconnected “silos.” Our lives are compartmentalized into work, play, and family. The business world is divided into internal departments, competition, financial markets, and consumers. We run our lives and our businesses as though they were some kind of giant, metaphorical file folder. Yet, most definitions of success that I’ve seen, whether in life or in business, have their genesis in everything, operating as a synchronistic whole. However, it’s pretty rare to see this kind of integrated synchronicity. While this may seem rather esoteric for a book on retailing, it really isn’t. We’ve led companies to increased market share and customer satisfaction levels by convincing them to think like organic farmers. They don’t see land as purely income-producing plots of dirt but as an intrinsic part of a whole, a pretty powerful metaphor for both our personal and business lives.

My company, The Thomas Yaccato Group, is in the silo-busting business. We’ve been around for more than 15 years, bringing companies together with women consumers. In essence, we are helping to create new corporate “ecosystems.” An ecosystem, as defined in a classic sense, is simply an ecological community functioning as a unit together with its environment.

When we’ve seen things really connect and work as an integrated whole or an ecosystem, when they coexist rather than dominate, we’ve witnessed astounding results in terms of increased market share and customer satisfaction levels. Starting in 2001, one year into a four-year project during which we trained 2,000 Royal Bank account managers on how to take women entrepreneurs seriously, the company experienced a 10 percent increase in women’s market share (in an industry where blood spills to garner a 2 percent increase) and a 29 percent increase in customer satisfaction levels with women entrepreneurs and their account managers.

It’s simply about this: Women are incredibly discerning consumers who control 80 percent of the consumer dollar spent in the industrialized world. We have categorically proven over and over again that if you focus on what women want in a retail experience, you raise the bar for everyone. Using a gender lens™ when looking at your business is much more than just casually looking at things from a woman’s point of view. It’s as much about having a wider view of all of the issues that face your business. We’ve coined a new adage: If you make it women-friendly, you make it everybody-friendly.

The “we” in all of this is the guy on the cover of this book. Sean McSweeney is the brainchild and powerhouse behind the enormously successful shift from unisex to gender-based retailing of Canada’s darling retailer, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). I first met Sean when I profiled MEC for The 80% Minority: Reaching the Real World of Women Consumers. The Toronto store is one of MEC’s flagship stores and is considered one of the greenest retail buildings in North America. MEC not only boasts green roofs, solar power, and the ability to reclaim/recycle 95 percent of operational waste, they also lead by donating 1 percent of revenue to environmental conservation and education projects. Sean himself is a committed bike commuter, rain or shine, and has led the Toronto store to win a number of environmental awards.

Sean knocked my pantyhose off with his practical approach to including women’s preferences, perspectives, and world view into everything MEC does. This wasn’t revolutionary or rocket science to him. “Bloody common sense,” he grumbles. Sean led changes in the Toronto store that have contributed to a rather intriguing demographic shift at MEC. It moved from 70 percent male to 50/50, with women representing the largest area of growth for the company.

So, it turns out that both Sean and I are business people, greenies, feminists, and parents. We buy organic, care about the Earth, diversity, gender inclusion, business cases, bottom lines, and kids. What’s interesting though, since turning 50, the dividers separating these somewhat “siloed” parts of my life have been crashing down all around me at an accelerated rate.

I’ve come to the conclusion that all of life’s experiences and perspectives, no matter how divergent or apparently unrelated, have actually been lying about on some metaphysical compost heap. Years of experience in environmental causes, the retail industry, and Gender Intelligence™ have all been fermenting on this compost heap and have now been transformed into a highly productive, rich, harmonized humus or world view. The result is a process we’ve called Gender-Intelligent Retail Ecology™ or GIRE. The purpose of GIRE is to help companies take stock of their current retail ecosystem and move to one that is more women-centric or organic.

Developing a gender-intelligent retail ecosystem™ is corporate-speak for “going organic”—that is, becoming more women-centric. It’s not about creating a “marketing-to-women” philosophy, department, or position that is separate and distinct from how business normally gets done. It’s a framework that provides companies with a sustainable foundation to intelligently and authentically connect with women consumers. Its core, gender intelligence™, ensures that women’s world view, preferences, and life realities are incorporated into everything the company does. This, in turn, creates a companywide core competency that ensures that women consumers’ needs are actually intrinsic to how business operates, something woefully lacking today.

Pick up any newspaper or magazine and chances are pretty good that someone will be howling at the moon about the dangers of traditional monoculture in farming. We now think a similar phenomenon is beginning to take hold in the retail industry. There is a noticeable trend in companies coming to us, depressed over declining market share. Entrenched short-term attitudes that are pervasive both in retail and agriculture are no longer effective. We’ve seen and experienced—up close and personal-like—companies achieve impressive short- and long-term results by simply integrating a wide-angle gender lens throughout their organization. This is the heart and soul of developing a gender-intelligent retail ecosystem. This book will tell you how to get started, but, as Sean is quick to point out, “At MEC, our work will never be done. Success is constantly being in the ‘getting there’ stage.”

We have proof that GIRE is an incredibly effective way to create an environment that women want to visit, spend their money in, and tell all of their friends about. So, to get a clearer picture, we invite you to cast off your ties and heels and don your rubber boots and overalls. We’re heading to the fresh air of the farm.

CHAPTER ONE

Down on the Farm . . .

The simple principle of life is to find out what she wants and give it to her. It’s worked in my marriage for 35 years and it works in laundry.1

—A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble

WHY RETAIL IS LIKE FARMING

My neighbour, Tim Smith, was actually a farmer before he became my neighbour. Tim is a real character, with a devilish sense of humour and a wonderfully balanced world view about farming. He explains to us novices that conventional agriculture is about cultivating a space and achieving the best yield possible in that space. It takes advantage of the “economies of scale” principle. However, Tim goes on to point out that, over the last 10 years, farmers have finally realized that monoculture has become a big problem. A monoculture is a single crop that is harvested, processed, and marketed without differentiation.