Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Women may always be a mystery to men, but that need not be the case for retailers. Here is a closer look at how female consumers are navigating the retail sector right now that can help you land more sales with women shoppers.

Who, what, when, where, why and how? These are the questions that every researcher seeks to answer. If your business needs to find success in its efforts at marketing to women, these are questions that can help provide insights about female consumers that you can use to shape your marketing strategies. Here are some research findings about women shoppers that made our list of things you should know....

It has to woo overlooked small retailers in the same way a disruptive technology needs to cater to developers.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has gotten lots of attention thanks to its pending multi-billion-dollar U.S. IPO. It seems to have no immediate plans to expand in the U.S.—but that's likely just a matter of time. And when it does, Amazon had better watch out, because Alibaba has a host of ready allies: the legions of mom-and-pop retailers that Amazon has left stranded in its wake.

Let's start with some background from Alibaba's perspective. The company controls 80% of the Chinese e-commerce market, which means it needs new markets in order to grow. Its current model—acting as an e-commerce middleman that connects buyers and sellers—might translate well to some big emerging markets, but Alibaba will need to take a more subtle approach in America for three reasons...