Book Review

The National Retail Federation asked me to write a book review about one of my favorite books. I chose...Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach and Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market Segment by Marti Barletta

It is one of the best marketing insights books I’ve read. I give it a ten out of ten for both wisdom and relevance. I’ve gifted away at least ten copies to my customers and friends. This book explains why it is so important for retailers to speak to their customers with one voice through all twelve guest communication channels.

Marti Barletta provides a comprehensive and easy-to-read framework for understanding the way women approach retail shopping. Ms. Barletta first provides context by comparing men’s goal in shopping, “a good solution”, with women’s goal, “the perfect answer”. Then she peels off a detail-rich look at how women go through the five steps of the shopping experience which she lists as; a) Activation, b) Nomination, c) Investigation/Decision, d) Retention, e) Recommendation. While men go straight through all of these steps like an arrow, women require much more detail, tending to revisit any of the previous steps before completing them all.

The hallmark of her book is the Gender Culture Star for women. Imagine a four pointed star with each point representing four main “inherent perspectives and priorities” that women bring with them when they shop:
Social Values – Different beliefs and attitudes about how people should relate to each other. How they view the world and their part in it.
Focus Strategies – Consistent differences in how women perceive and process information.
Lifetime Factors – Implications of the ways in which women’s roles differ from men’s.
Communication Keys – Different patterns and rituals of expression.

Marti Barletta then draws a circle and places the twelve “Guest Communication Channels” around its circumference like the numbers on a clock. She places the Gender Culture Star within the clock, then rotates the star to illustrate the different ways a woman views the channels…through each of her four inherent perspectives and priorities.

Marti Barletta references many of her experiences and examples to support her concise conclusions. It’s the kind of book that you read and say to yourself, “of course”!

Put this book on the top of your reading list if you are charged with creating strategies for driving store traffic and customer retention with the most influential decision maker in the home!