Mere Lip Service Won’t Attract Women
Women are beginning to be seen as a serious cohort in alco-beverage business with increasing say and purchasing power by categories beyond vodka. Fueled by an increasing cocktail culture and a growing craft trend, women are becoming acknowledged as a force to reckon with, says Priyanka Mookerjee, Head – Customer Marketing, India Private Limited.
Priyanka Mookerjee feels totally empowered when she makes her alcohol purchase decisions herself. It is not often that she goes to shop in the domestic market. When she travels she buys her drinks every month but
in the domestic market perhaps once in 3-4 months.
But her alcohol shopping list in India for a party for instance, always has her choices clearly spelt out. But in general, she sees more women buying
alcoholic beverages in India than before, across at least the metro cities in the country. “This has a lot to do with the improving retail landscape. The fact that there are modern trade stores with an alcobev section,
many more stand-alone self service stores which provide a decent ambience very different from the only traditional ‘caged outlets’ of the past, allow women like me to freely browse, discover and experiment with new liquids,” says Priyanka.
Contextualising how the growing purchasing power of women has influenced her choice of drinks,she says, “There is now an environment that allows one to browse, discover and this leads to a lot more experimentation. For instance, I am any innovator’s delight as a consumer. I am very excited to try new things and get easily seduced by great packaging or disruptive formats.”
Lip service
Giving her take on whether alcobev companies understand women’s preferences well and whether this reflects in their marketing strategies, she says marketers often approach women-centric campaigns from the lens of ‘it will make my brand look progressive and inclusive’ and end up just paying lip service. What is more is that a vast majority of female consumers today can see through the façade because it is rarely based on a potent consumer insight. Instead, most such campaigns tend to check some boxes like female protagonist, pink packaging, curvy packs, etc.”
