This blog post examines how women’s consumption is linked to emotions, relationships, and anxiety, making them a core marketing target, while calmly analyzing how capitalism designs consumer psychology.

The Crown Jewel of Marketing: Women’s Marketing

What about adults? In adult marketing, the most crucial target is women. ‘Women’s marketing’ is even called the crown jewel of marketing. This signifies that women buy easily and buy a lot. So, what is the reason? What makes women buy more than men?
Brand consultant Martin Lindstrom likens this to “hope in a bottle of cosmetics.”

“Men and women are very different. Women are much more emotionally vulnerable. I’m afraid women might get angry hearing this, but generally speaking, women are more vulnerable than men when it comes to consumption. You can see this clearly in the cosmetics industry. These days, new cosmetics appear almost daily. They claim to have truly amazing functions. But most of it is exaggeration. In reality, there isn’t a huge difference between cosmetic products. The texture or scent might vary slightly, but ultimately, the ingredients are very similar. Women buy a cream, think it’s really great, then soon decide it’s not very effective and look for new ads in magazines. They see a new product and rush out to buy it. After a few weeks, they say it’s not that great either. They keep doing this until they’re in their sixties. The cosmetics industry knows this cycle perfectly. They release new products to match it. They keep introducing new features, but the hidden truth is that only new marketing tactics emerge—there are hardly any real new functions. Women sometimes become more vulnerable, so they seek ‘hope in a bottle of cosmetics.’”

Advertisements constantly whisper to women.

“I was born for you. Your life will change.”

Sweet words from a handsome celebrity feel like they’re meant just for me. I’m easily swayed by promises like “losing weight is possible by enjoying just one delicious meal a day” or “your skin will improve instantly just by applying this.”
Moreover, women place significant importance on emotional connection with the seller. Another reason women engage in relatively irrational consumption is their tendency toward ‘relationship-oriented consumption.’ Strictly speaking, consumption is an act driven by ‘need.’ If you need it, you buy it; if you don’t need it, you don’t buy it. There seems to be no room for the element of ‘relationship’ here.
However, in women’s consumption, relationships also play a very important role. Primarily, women often appear relatively vulnerable in emotional exchanges with sellers. They hope the seller will recognize and empathize with their needs first. Furthermore, if the seller willingly engages in emotional interaction, women may decide to purchase regardless of their actual need. When they like the person, they become regular customers, maintaining long-term relationships that lead to sustained consumption.

Women are the household shopping leaders

Women’s opinions also have a decisive influence on the larger purchase of a home. Even professional baseball, once considered a male-only domain, is now actively courting female audiences. Why is this? Paco Underhill, CEO of In-Vero Cell, explains:

“Today’s women don’t just buy food and clothes. They purchase electronics, cars, and nearly every category of goods. There’s an irony here. People often say some products are sold to men and others to women, but that distinction has largely vanished. Did you know this? We passed a very symbolic moment in 2003. In 2003, working women aged 30 living in New York, London, Paris, and Dallas earned on average about 20 percent more than men of the same age. Women are more highly educated, more focused on their work, less likely to have learning disabilities or reading difficulties, and have significantly lower rates of drug or alcohol addiction. A major shift has occurred in the relationship between working men and working women across our entire culture. While Korea and Japan are highly developed nations in many respects, in the relationship between working men and women, they still lag behind many other developing countries.”

Women now shop not just for themselves but also for those not physically present at the shopping scene—their husbands, children, and other family members. As women gained absolute influence over household consumption, they became the most crucial demographic for marketers. Women are now the primary shoppers for the household, making them a constant target for marketing.
Furthermore, women’s consumption is closely tied to their relationships with friends. It’s often difficult for women to ignore the disapproval of those around them and consume a product they don’t particularly like. Only when they receive recognition from others do women feel satisfaction with their purchases.
So what about men? In fact, men are also targeted by capitalism, albeit in different ways and through different ‘vulnerable points’. This is Martin Lindstrom’s perspective.

“Men have their own vulnerabilities, but they manifest differently. Take buying a camera, for example. Suppose you bought a 5-6 megapixel camera. But when you visit a store, you see the latest models are 10 megapixels. You think it’s better and buy it. But experiments were conducted. People were deliberately shown photos with different image qualities. The 10-megapixel photos were significantly worse in quality than the 5-megapixel ones. Yet people were so captivated by the information about the higher pixel count that they failed to notice the poor quality. People fall into the illusion that upgrading from an iPad 3 to an iPad 5 gives them more power and makes them smarter. In fact, this is exactly the same as ‘hope in a cosmetic bottle’. It’s just the male way. Conversely, women wouldn’t buy creams labeled ‘Version 4’ or ‘Version 5’. Men wouldn’t buy cosmetics just because they added ingredients or claimed to make you look younger. This difference between men and women is subtle but extremely important.”

Looking solely at gender differences, women are a much easier target for marketers to target. Compared to men, women respond more readily to advertising logic, are sensitive to new products, and are responsible for nearly all household spending.
Therefore, calling ‘women’s marketing’ the ‘crown jewel of marketing’ carries no positive connotation from the consumer’s perspective. ‘Women’s marketing’ ultimately amounts to capitalism’s command: “Since women possess far more vulnerabilities in consumption, target that point intensively.”