Gizmos for her -The gadget gap is narrowing.
Market researcher The NPD Group compared electronics sales from the weeks preceding Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and the data revealed that spending was just about the same. Now electronics are must-have gifts for everyone, so, forget the flowers for mom or girl-friends and head for electronics aisle. More than ever before, women are sporting handfuls of gadgets. Though women are more attracted to portable devices than to stationary ones. Also, the mobile phone that has a camera and a music player and IM or Web browsing capability is much more popular with women, who appreciate the multitasking capabilities but more appreciate the idea that they don’t have to carry a handful of devices in order to do all the things they want to do on the go.
Women often are swayed to buy a product for reasons far different than those that drive men. They will choose a gadget not because they want to be a pioneer but because they and their friends have discovered the usefulness of the thing. Guys walk around tech stores like they’re looking for the fastest, newest, coolest, first-on-the-block thing, while women would rather shop in a calmer, information-based environment for products that will simplify their lives. As women demonstrate a growing appetite for consumer tech products, retailers and manufacturers are beginning to cater to this potentially huge reservoir of customers. High-tech businesses and electronics retailers are changing store designs, increasing their marketing toward women, focusing on gadget accessories and boosting advertising in women’s magazines — all in a pitch to get women to walk the aisles and walk out with cell phones, MP3 players and plasma televisions. One excellent example of the gadget-for-women idea is a line of headbands that double as headsets: Such a device appeals to a woman’s natural ability to blend form and function in stylish ways. Last year Oprah Winfrey too gave away gizmos like iPods, Blackberrys and Sony notebook computers alongside Burberry bags and Ugg boots on her annual “Oprah’s Favorite Things” episode.
