Telegraph.co.uk: An attitude shift is long overdue in the car industry -
Making the buying experience more women-friendly will benefit everyone
Why isn't the message getting through that women are heavily involved in the buying process?
"Hiring and promoting women is the right thing to do for society – and for our business, because women decide or influence the overwhelming majority of car purchases globally." So said Carlos Ghosn, CEO and chairman of the Renault/Nissan Alliance, last week. When Mr Ghosn says something, people normally sit up and listen. Only, that being the case, why is it taking eons for the message to trickle down to designers, dealers, engineers, brand managers and agencies?
This month's Paris motor show was yet another embarrassment of skimpily clad Eurobabes, rictus grin plastered on top of powder and lipstick as they bent over car bonnets, eyes empty, while an endless stream of over-excited foreign male journalists pawed at their iPhones to get photos (I have to say, credit where it's due; the majority of British male motoring journalists view the manufacturers' adherence to this Eighties sales technique as faintly ridiculous and mildly amusing).
"The car industry is like the technology industry was 10 years ago when it comes to engaging women – like nervous teenagers at a school dance", observed Belinda Parmar, CEO of Lady Geek and author of The Empathy Era, when I met her in Paris. "One luxury car company told me that 10 per cent of their website traffic was women, and they had no desire to increase this for fear of diluting 'the masculinity of their brand'. The reality is that women globally are responsible for purchasing 65 per cent of all new cars and the car industry has an 'empathy deficit' which makes it less appealing to women as both customers and employees."
Actually, according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, women are considered "influencers" on a not-insignificant 80 per cent of all new-car purchases, meaning that they either buy the vehicle outright or have veto power on a man's purchase. Such an intractable fact makes manufacturers' use of showgirls just plain weird. Earlier this year, Nissan debuted its "Ladies First" dealership, mostly managed and staffed by women. The dealership, in a Tokyo suburb, features stylish interiors, a nursing room and a spacious area where children can play and is aimed at making the shopping experience more welcoming to women and first-time buyers.
Nissan will roll out 300 "Ladies First" dealerships across Japan by next year. It is also considering expanding the programme to overseas markets and has said it will introduce it "wherever applicable". Let's ignore for a moment the wince-inducing use of "ladies" where "women" will do well, and applaud the sentiment.
Nissan's sister marque, Renault, created a product team for the Renault Captur that was consciously evenly split between men and women. Half of the team members dedicated to the crossover's engineering, design, marketing and sales were women, the highest for any Renault car. Captur went on sale last year and is now the most popular compact crossover in Europe.
There has got to be a marketing and corporate space for manufacturers to occupy, somewhere between patronising and ignoring women, who undeniably form the majority market voice. Where is that space though? The Renault-Nissan Alliance seems to think it's partly about employing more women. "I'm encouraged that Nissan and Renault are not just focusing on female customers but also the culture of the company and thinking about making an environment where women can flourish. Many companies focus on attracting female talent without changing the culture within. The result is often that female employees drop out at a higher rate than men," says Belinda Parmar.
"The Ladies First Dealership is a smart commercial move for Nissan; it's similar to the Vodafone Angel stores in India which are completely run and managed by women. This model can work but it depends on the culture and the way the stores are designed and staffed. Tone is everything. Companies should avoid the "pink it & shrink it" approach where they patronise women by making everything dumb and girly. The stereotypical approach of 'Ladies Driving Days' with spas and manicures is patronising and lazy.
"Female-friendly retail is about making experiences that everyone enjoys. When you make business more appealing to women, evidence shows that you make it more appealing to men as well. Marketing to women is not a feminist agenda, it's a commercial one."
Which leaves one question: when on earth is the industry going to change its approach, wholesale, to suit its customers?
