Women who do it all put a premium on time

Drug Store News, June 21, 2004 by Michelle L. Kirsche

Time is the most valuable commodity for a Renaissance Woman shopping the drug store channel. Any steps a retailer can take to make her shopping trip faster and easier will attract this influential consumer. She knows what she wants, what works best for herself and her family and expects an efficient, well-trained staff to facilitate her product purchase.

Market research firm NOP World, through its LifeMatrix consumer segment profile, defines a Renaissance Woman as an "active, caring, affluent and influential mom" with creativity and solid values. Renaissance Women as a whole are highly educated and maintain a challenging career, with a salary and requisite business travel to match. A Renaissance Woman simultaneously cares for her family, participates in the community, enjoys working out, cares about the environment and holds an interest in the arts. She strives to maintain equilibrium between the myriad facets of her life, while still leaving private time for herself.

To help keep her life and her family's lives organized, a Renaissance Woman relies heavily on technology, convenience-related products and contract services. Compared with other consumer segments, Renaissance Women are much more likely to shop online, by mail or by phone for products and services. Renaissance Women also rank average in the number of times they shop the drug store channel over a 30-day period compared with other consumer groups.

The typical age of a Renaissance Woman is 47. The aggregate group tends to have children of all ages in the home and are just as likely to buy pediatric cough medicine for young children as they are to buy cosmetics for a teenager.

This is a woman who lines her pantry with whole bean coffee, soymilk and imported wines, while children's products and remedies line her medicine cabinet, and a Dodge or Plymouth minivan sits in her driveway. A Renaissance Woman functions best when her life is organized, and she aligns herself with retailers who help her accomplish that end.

"Renaissance Women are all about finding balance, whatever works for them," said Kelly Sirimoglu, vice president of the brand strategy group for NOP World. "It's not about what costs more or which brand has a better reputation, although that's part of it. Renaissance Women are loyal to things that 'get it done.' This is a woman that bought a [personal digital assistant] five years ago because she saw it could balance her life. She is looking for brands and products that make her life easier. Anything that saves even two minutes helps."

Supporting the profile, an online survey conducted by research firm Frank About Women in April and based on a national sample of more than 1,100 respondents, found that 75 percent of women would pay more for a product if it saved them time. In addition, 48 percent would purchase a product that saved time over a product that saved money.

"Time is a commodity that most women today can ill-afford to waste, and many are willing to buy," said Stephanie Ouyoumjian, a director for Frank About Women.

The survey also found that in addition to quality, Renaissance Women define the value of a product by whether it does what they want it to do or makes them feel how they want to feel.

Milwaukee-based market research firm Hamacher Resource Group provided additional insight into specifically what lines the cabinet shelves of Renaissance Women. According to marketing manager Kira Behrens, hot categories for the segment include: weight loss/nutritional bars, vitamins and supplements, high-end skin and hair care, family planning, feminine hygiene, analgesics/migraine and teeth whitening. For her family, the Renaissance Woman is buying children's vitamins, children's pain relief and baby ointment, according to NOP World.

Within the categories she shops for herself, popular items and brands, according to Behrens, are: trendy bath and boutique products, stress-relieving bath and skin products, L'Oreal's new Refinish microder-mabrasion kit, menopause- and ovulation-testing kits, and dietary supplements like Caltrate and Oscal and One-a-Day WeightSmart.

NOP World's Sirimoglu added that Renaissance Women are just as likely to buy Maybelline mascara as they are Lancome makeup--illustrating again the phenomenon that these women know what works best for them and buy accordingly. Other products that attract this consumer group are Mr. Clean Magic Eraser cleaning pads and Schick Intuition razors--both items that save time.

And, while Renaissance Women know what they want for themselves, they also put great effort into researching which products are best for their families. "They are very likely to read nutrition labels," said Sirimoglu. "They search out information before making a purchase, but they also are aware of new products and will seek them out in a store."

Being as Renaissance Women do their homework, they expect nothing less from retailers, seeking caring, courteous, prompt sales staff with extensive product knowledge. "[Renaissance] Women expect 'Nordstrom-quality' service everywhere they shop, but they rarely find it," said Ouyoumjian. "[Their] expectations are high. Miss the mark, and you've lost her forever."