Industry Trends: How to Attract Female Consumers for Your Business Growth in the Relay Race of Annual Big Sale?

The anniversary of department stores ignites the series of annual big sale in Taiwan. When the economy is reviving and consumer confidence is rising, how do female consumers allocate their budgets? What are the effective marketing strategies in the post-COVID-19 Era?

A series of annual marketing campaigns are launched in the revived economy

The global economy has revived since June from the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Taiwan economy is heading into the fourth quarter at a pace of steady and sustained growth, although most countries are still trying to shake free of recession. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Confidence in Taiwan rose in the third quarter, and the employment rate was also improved. According to the statistics report by the Ministry of Labor, the number of labor in reduction of working hours was decreased to 17,981 at the end of September from 31,816 in June with a 43% reduction. Moreover, the unemployment rate declined to 3.99%.

As the economic recovery, female consumers in Taiwan are willing to dedicate more spending budget in the fourth quarter. In October, the department stores' anniversary ignites the series of annual promotions in Taiwan follows by Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Single's Day sales. The latest survey report points out that the age from 20 to 39 participators will increase expenditure in the fourth quarter. In addition, the spending budget of the 40 to 50 age group stays solid without impact by economic crisis nor pandemic.

Female consumers increase budgets for the anniversary of department stores

Female consumers tend to allocate more budget on packaged food, skincare and cosmetics, electronic devices, clothing and fashion, and medicine and health supplements, and the budget for luxury items, alcoholic beverages, sporting goods, and home appliance is tantamount to the cost in August. The participators claimed that the annual promotion will lead to the additional purchase of cosmetics up to 72.5% followed by apparels, cosmetics, shoes, and electronic devices. In terms of purchasing channels, online shopping malls are the most popular platform, but most consumers tend to shop in stores in general. Therefore, the business activities in the downtown area and the transportation industry are expected to be benefited from the series of promotions.

The new normal of marketing in the past COVID-19 era

Although the economy and consumption intention keep growing, COVID-19 crisis still leaves a huge cloud over consumers in Taiwan. The percentage of Taiwanese female consumers who expect the situation is getting better in the next 12 months declines to 32%, and they think that it needs 8.67 months to back to normal.

Thus, the participators keep dedicating a large part of their budget to household goods and health supplements with 15% and 16% separately. To continue attracting consumers, there are 3 strategies that are popular among marketing experts around the world to navigate brands for “the new normal”.

The first trend is brand claims. In 2020, the world is navigating multiple crises simultaneously which includes a relentless pandemic, a looming economic recession, a climate emergency, a big racial justice movement, and the loss of many prestigious celebrities. It drives the expectation of consumers to act with their government, organizations, fellow citizens, and the brands they buy from.

Therefore, the brand claims and brand image are the core topic for enterprises to communicate with their target market.

The second trend is consumer insight. The brands that have a business growth in pandemic dedicated more budget and workforce on data analysis. They built real-time dashboards, mined customer insight, and looked for new trends. Indeed, to fulfill customers' new demands cost little. Actually, the brands figure out that it requires little costs to fulfill customers' new demands, but those valuable insights will become new business opportunities and guide the brands through the crisis.

The third trend is a renewed focus on online brand experience. The brands shifted their marketing budget to e-commerce and wider online advertisement, and the investment is set to increase approximately 20% worldwide. The brands that have an abundance budget started reviewing and redesigning the product packaging, price, and entire experience. Furthermore, the most desirable brand images to consumers are health, safety, and reliability.

Download the full report here.