What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female-Friendly

by Paco Underhill, Mike Chamberlain

Paco Underhill reports on the growing importance of women in the marketplacewhat makes a package, product, or service female-friendly, offering a tour of the worlds marketplace and all its new trends.

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Underhill has spent more than 25 years conducting research on the different aspects of shopping behavior, earning his status as a leading expert and pioneer in the field. Paco helps companies understand what motivates the behaviors of today’s consumer. His research shows how today’s retail world is ruled by factors such as gender, “trial and touch” and human anatomy. He is an insightful and captivating speaker, who frequently presents to trade associations and professional groups about the methodology and findings of his research.

Underhill and Envirosell have been profiled by major publications, such as, The New Yorker, Fortune, Fast Company, Business Week and Smithsonian Magazine, and have been featured on ABC’s 20/20, and CBS’s 48 Hours. Paco is a regular contributor to NPR and BBC Radio. His columns and editorials have appeared in the New York Times, London Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor. His first book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping has been published in twenty-six languages, and has sold more copies than any other retail book in history. His second book, entitled Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping, was released in February 2004 by Simon & Schuster.

Reviews

[Chris Aylott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's talk about the little women, shall we? That's the vibe that comes off this book, as Paco Underhill tells men (the audience is clearly men, almost certainly executive men about his age) about what women REALLY want. Curvy things mostly. And hand-holding, and clean stuff.

He went to Vassar in the seventies, so you know he has bona fides as a sensitive guy. (He reminds you of this fact a couple of times in the book.) So hopefully you'll smile and nod as he shares a series of fatuous over-generalizations and poorly thought-out statements:

* The modern kitchen is full of gadgets to make life easier for women. Funny, I thought it had something to do with more guys mucking about in the home kitchen.

* Houses built in the 1880s have small bathrooms due to old-fashioned taboos, and bathrooms grew to become palaces of femininity. Sure, or maybe it was because indoor plumbing wasn't all that common for another decade or two, and bathrooms grew when houses did.

* And my absolute favorite line in the book, "Many women are known to cut their hair short after becoming mothers, as if to emphasize the no-fuss practicality of nourishing new life." Or maybe it's because BABIES. GRAB. HAIR.

Underhill is on firmer ground when he talks about the topic he's famous for, which is the way people move and interact in retail spaces. That part seems based on actual knowledge and research. The rest of the book reads like one of the more painful scenes from Mad Men.

Hey, I'm a guy. I don't know crap about women. But at least I have the sense not to write a book about what I think I know.

[Jill Furedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment this book was. I really enjoyed his other two books. I expected this one to be similar...observing what customers picked up, how they interacted with products, etc, just that this one would be female focused. I felt like the whole book was just Paco making generalizations about stuff he's seen over the years, with nothing specific to help readers out. Kinda made me think he doesn't want to give away too many more tips and just wants to convince people to hire his company. Telling us that women want to feel safe and clean is ridiculous simplification. He gives us very few specific examples of what made women cringe vs pleased with their experiences. What makes them shop at one clothing store versus another (in regards to his clean/safe theory)...he did mention seeing messy dressing rooms, but didn't mention how women reacted to them, just how he did. He gave us a little bit about hotels, but not so much about a retail setting. There was a section where he discussed women buying beer or wine and talked about marketing it as a family get together, removing the sexy women from the signs and packaging etc. Then he mentions wine labels are off-base...here is where I would have loved to see one of his observational scenes from Why We Buy: which ones were women picking up most often, which ones did they not slow down for? But no, that's the end of the chapter...he just tells them to think about the criteria women use to make their selections.
The most interesting section was what the malls need to do to become 'lifestyle centers", but while interesting, isn't what I picked up the book for. He does include a section talking about how instead of signs for different designers in dept stores, they need signs saying "purses" "little black dress" etc. But he has no examples of anyone who has tried this successfully. He says Nordstrom had signs that say 'classic" "country "urban" instead of designers but that "I still don't think women are paying that much attention. First off, those don't help if you don't relate to one of their categories, but also, it still doesn't address his point of looking for a particular item. So again, here is where I wanted him to tell whether signs work at all, how they could be done better, especially since he said no one is paying attention to them. So then what would work? Did they try anything out?
Then there were the odd lists he gave us to show the wide range of women's interests. This one is in reference to a home office: "If she wants she can check the Dow Jones average, glimpse the ten-day weather forecase, set an alarm clock that can signal when the TV show she loves is about to begin, or when the oven should be turned off." Really? An alarm for her TV show? Does he know someone who uses their home office for this? Later he updates how she's using it "tackle her own work, return emails, use Epicurious.com to hunt down a recipe for horseradish mashed potatoes, order a book from Amazon, or if she's curious and confident enough to have created her own Facebook account..." That's where I end the quote. I double checked the copyright, this book was written in 2010. What age group are these women who need confidence to create a FB account? He even has a section later discussing how women use social media, so I thought that was a bizarre statement.
This did not earn a space on my bookshelf next to Call of the Mall and Why We Buy. Those I marked with pages I might refer back to. Notes I could use to improve my sales staff performance in a retail environment (though at my current job I'll use this less than when I worked at a dept store). This book, I only marked the things that left me shaking my head. I didn't mark a single thing that I found helpful or useful.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

What women, as a broad generalisation, want ... as told by some dweeby middle-aged male psychologist.

Please don't get the wrong impression from the line above. I am not one of those people obsessed with identity politics, and who thinks one's opinion lacks the right to be heard if they do not belong to the group upon which they are stating an opinion. It just struck me, throughout this weird and somewhat condescending book, that Paco Underhill, in spite of his expertise in the field of market trends and whatnot, isn't the best authority of the female psyche.

I don't know if it was just that my image of him was coloured by the tragic fact that he was twice rejected in proposing marriage to women, but there was something just a little sad about the man, and his whole outlook as demonstrated in this book can't help feeling disingenuous. I don't know who he was trying to impress, but I don't know if it worked exactly, seeing as many other reviews don't look good for the book's overall standing.

More generally, on top of simply finding economics and the market to be a boring topic I very rarely enjoy reading about, this book also has a really snobby feel to it. I hated the way Underhill kept portraying travelling businesswoman as being scared of taxi drivers, bell boys and all those disgusting working-class schlubs that might break into her hotel room and rape her because the stupid man at the lobby desk said her name and her room number out loud.

Underhill reminded me of Mr Hutchinson from Fawlty Towers: the guy who goes snooping around complaining about anything that doesn't meet his own standards of customer-pleasing perfection, right down to what material shower-curtain-rings are made of.

I didn't quite hate the book as there were, very occasionally, some interesting parts - especially where he talks about the new trend in supermalls, which are actually returning to a nicer aesthetic and becoming more “female-friendly”, whatever the hell that actually means. But on the whole, I did not like it.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was sorely disappointed by Underhill's take on how retailers can appeal to female buyers. Underhill is widely regarded as a guru of retail marketing, yet his advice on appealing to female shoppers is hopelessly antiquated. Unbridled anger coursed through my veins at this statement by Underhill: "Just as a man collects his toys - the all-terrain vehicle, the Harley, or the vintage, seldom-used Porsche he keeps sheeted in one side of the garage - the kitchen has been transformed into the arena where the female can compensate for all the male gadgets under the roof. It's as if she's saying, "Hey, if you have the power saw and the new MacBook Pro, I want an incredible refrigerator!" (Underhill, 2010, p. 26).
The vintage Porsche in the garage at my house is mine. To hell with the refrigerator. Mr. Underhill, this is 2012, not 1952.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Condescending. Wouldn’t have minded that so much if it wasn’t also appallingly written. Some interesting ideas so two stars.

[Dmitry · Rating 1 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Довольно скучная и не актуальная на сегодняшний день книга, в которой автор пишет о технологических изменениях, которые позволили женщинам стать, что называется, "хозяевами жизни". Женщины получили больше прав и как следствие, больше возможностей. Это в свою очередь означает, что многие сферы деятельности как например отели, магазины и пр. стали обращать внимание и на женскую аудиторию, как следствие, товары и услуги стали создавать с учётом того что ими будут пользоваться и женщины. Вот собственно и вся суть книги. Всё остальное - истории из жизни, читать которые просто скучно. К маркетингу эта книга имеет косвенное отношение, но даже и в этом случаи вся информация сводится к здравому смыслу и простому наблюдению.

Quite a boring and not relevant for today's book, in which the author writes about technological changes that have allowed women to become, what is called, “masters of life”. Women have gained more rights and, as a result, more opportunities. This in turn means that many spheres of activity such as hotels, stores, etc. began to pay attention to the female audience, as a consequence, goods and services began to be created with the consideration that they will be used by women. This is the whole essence of the book. All the rest is life stories, which are just boring to read. This book has an indirect relation to marketing, but even in this case, all the information is reduced to common sense and simple observation.

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a terrible book but it was a little all over the place with a key overlying theme of "women, amirite? *smirk*". I mean, his main points are that things that women prefer tend to be more egalitarian and popular such as furniture designs or shopping experiences instead of just regular "male" products that are marketed as "extreme", but he would jump from topic to topic for things like social networks without really elaborating on why only women would prefer those or why that leads to better product development. I liked hearing about how convenience stores became a thing (people wanted something better to do while waiting for prescriptions and the only options before were gross and had too many cigarettes and dirty magazines).
I believe he says towards the end that some of these essays were from other topics he's written about (like malls) and it kind of shows. If you want to know about the history of furniture or gyms or you're Christina Applegate in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and are making a pitch for a new product, this is a good book for you.

[Rizwana Rajgara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learnt so much from this book. This book is set at a marketing angle to describe what women want, how the stores should display their products, be it products for women themselves, the men, children, parents, friends in their life and of course how to sell it to them!
A variety of products have been discussed and also real-life case studies. It makes a lot of sense when you step into a Target, or a Nordstrom, or Macys's and see that many product displays are a result of years of studying women's behavior when shopping.

You will like this book if you like reading about marketing, people studies, and light reading.

[Felicia Mesadieu · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt like thoughts that were soooo unorganized. I felt like I was in several conversations with the author about multiple topics when it should have been one topic and one conversation. He kept jumping around in the conversation. I don’t like the authors writing style. I didn’t leave the book happy that I read it.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really as good as his previous books. A lot of this is either pretty obvious or has become fairly commonplace in the decade since it was written.
It is useful to remind one of the view and concerns of women, such as safety and cleanliness, that are more important to them than to men.

[Venuka Goyal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the American market, not the global market. It gives us a broad view about how marketing strategies changed once the big companies started realizing that majority of their clients were female.

[M.C.A. Hogarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like this one, but it's not up to Underhill's usual standards of interestingness.

[Radostina Tsvetkova · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little outdated as of 2022

[Elizabeth]

from the library

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 (14)
1 Housequake
15 (10)
2 Don't Phunk with My Hearth
25 (10)
3 Let Us Spray
35 (8)
4 Nice Work If You Can Get It
43 (10)
5 We Can Work It Out
53 (8)
6 To Love, Honor, and Maintain
61 (10)
7 Should I Stay or Should I Go?
71 (18)
8 The Female, Unplugged
89 (14)
9 Women and Sin
103 (14)
10 The Empress's New Clothes
117 (12)
11 C'mon a My Mall
129 (12)
12 Higher Ground
141 (14)
13 Drugstores
155 (10)
14 See Me, Touch Me, Feel Me, Heal Me
165 (14)
15 Almost Cut My Hair
179 (8)
16 Off the Wall
187 (10)
Author's Note 197 (8)
Bibliography/Suggested Reading 205 (2)
Acknowledgments 207 (1)
Index 208

Booklist Reviews

Despite continued pay inequities, in 2005 young women under 30 earned more than men for the first time in U.S. history, signaling greater influence in the consumer market. Underhill, founder of Envirosell, Inc., marketer to major retailers, draws on market research and personal observations to detail the ways that women are influencing design, marketing, and service in industries from car manufacturing to architecture to banking. What do women want? Cleanliness, control, safety, and consideration. Women are behind the growth in the health-food industry, new urbanist communities that offer the geographic closeness of cities and the safety of suburbia, and contemporary kitchens with open plans and appliances geared toward convenience. Underhill notes that trends continue to favor the influence of women with the reduction of the manufacturing sector that needs muscle, greater control over women's reproductive lives, and an education system that suits girls more than boys. Underhill offers good insights, though his tone seems a bit off sometimes, and female readers are likely to wonder how the same material might have yielded different insights from a woman writer. Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

It may still be a world "owned by men, designed by men, and managed by men," but sales guru Underhill (Why We Buy) argues that companies which fail to recognize women's purchasing power will miss out on the consumer bonanza of the future. In this lively study, the author traces how middle-class women's entrance into the workplace has reshaped everything from demand to design and reveals the future implications for consumer behavior as women of all classes outpace their male counterparts in college attendance. In a friendly, conversational style, Underhill discloses how the business landscape is being transformed to be safer, more accessible, and attuned to women's wants such as houses that are designed with bigger, more open kitchens that can serve as "the unofficial domestic control center of a contemporary home." Underhill's conception of the female consumer is outmoded at times (larger bathrooms in houses are supposed to serve as the "penultimate inner sanctum [for] today's frazzled female"), but he makes a compelling argument that a failure to cater to women consumers with products, services, environments, and customer experiences that meet their expectations is just "bad business." (July) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this, I thought a more proper title would be "What Stereotypical Women Want". I was quite amazed that the author based his opinions on very little hard data. He did claim to use data on one page, but that didn't seem like enough to me, not enough to base a book's worth of recommendations on, not enough to validate recommendations. This book is written to sound like all recommendations are based on the author's direct observations of how women act in retail environments, but when he describes many of these observation, you can see other equally plausible explanations exist which can lead to different recommendations or areas of focus. This is generalizing based on limited observation, which can be dangerous and wrong, like continuing to walk across a frozen river because the first step was safe. The author makes recommendations based on the author's stereotypes of women relating to shopping. Does the author do this to make the book more readable? Unfortunately you can't tell, there are no footnotes and limited references mentioned. But this tact does make the book more readable, and makes the author appear to believe he is an expert. Despite misgivings based on his methodology, I have to agree with some of his recommendations and generalizations. I just don't know which ones -- times change. And some of his generalizations are very vague, such as "women like security". Hard to argue with some of these generalizations for most people. I also took issue with the author taking credit for changes in convenience stores to bring in more women shoppers. The specific steps mentioned were taken by at least one of the companies he mentioned about a dozen years prior to the author taking credit for the idea. I was there working for that company. He lost credibility with me on that one. But with all business books, the test is whether you think differently or will take action based on the concepts presented. And with this book, some of the descriptions of what women want did resonate. Even though the book is aimed at retail and I work in software, I see some changes to how I try to present my software based on the customer's gender, including changes in presentation design and the words I use. Easy to try, and make my own observations.

[Joe Robles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paco Underhill is great at boiling down what you need to know in simple and easy to understand concepts. if you've read Why We Buy, then you know he's absolutely brilliant when it comes to retail. I've applied several of his concepts to our business, and while I can't say that it alone is why we continued to post sales increases, even during the recession, it definitely didn't hurt. So when I saw that he'd written a book on the female consumer, I knew I had to pick it up.

I've read two other books on the female consumer, Why She Buys (wonder where that title came from?), and The X and Y of Buy, but was looking to see what Mr. Underhill would have to add. What Underhill brings is insights across many different types of retail. He shows you how you can be successful if you run a chain, a drug store, what you can learn from Sephora and Aveda. The key when reading the book is to never dismiss anything as, "well that's a cosmetics store that doesn't apply to me." No those concepts can apply to you. Take the best practices from other companies and industries and figure out if you can incorporate them into your business. Realize that even if you've got a lot of female customers, are there things you can do better. If your primary customer base is male, and the people making the decisions in your company are male, then you're probably not maximizing your female customer base.

The great thing about turning your business female friendly is that it doesn't alienate the male base. All the improvements and concepts in this book can be applied and your male customers will not go anywhere. I highly recommend this book, but think one should also read Why She Buys and The X and Y of Buy.

[Jina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I had enjoyed Underhill's previous two books. This book was not written for me. It was written by a man, for men who are probably executives in large retail and service companies. Most of the things in it seemed so self-evident that I was surprised anyone would bother to call them out. For example, he talks about the importance of personal security: how most women, after ringing up a purchase, will not move away from the counter until their wallet is securely stowed. And how women hate having their luggage grabbed by a bellhop; they want to maintain control of it at all times. He marvels at the hate parties that girls and women have about their bodies: "I hate my thighs." "I hate my ankles." I was interested by what he said about Best Buy's efforts to be female-friendly, since I don't like going in there. And he had some interesting observations about drugstores. I wouldn't recommend it to women because it's too obvious, but it might be interesting reading for men.

[Phallen (Helen) Sakhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We live in a world that is owned by men, designed by men, and manages by men - and yet we expect women to be active participants in it.

The more highly educated you are, the better chance you have of being successfully employed in a well-paying job.

While men were busy doing other things, women were becoming a major social, cultural, and economic force.

Goodbye, male-oriented house - now say hello to a dwelling that accommodates the specific needs of the gender who’s actually in charge of running the thing: the female.

Until the end of the Mesolithic era, the female may have been best known as a gatherer and forager, a gender which derived immense pleasure from the art of scavenging.

If female came home tired from work and immediately set to work preparing a meal for her family, she didn’t want to be sequestered in a remote corner of the house. She wanted the kitchen to blend openly and harmoniously with the rest of the house.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hope he did some serious reseach, and just chose to present his findings with anecdotal examples, because if his clients are paying him to tell them what his friends Pam or Debbie like they could probably cut out the middle man. Also, if the sum total of his advice to them is "Women like places that are clean and safe," I have to wonder (a) what human being doesn't and (b) who needs to pay someone to tell them that?

His whole folksy "Some of my best friends are women" intro is really off putting. It only serves to reinforce the idea that his clients are perfectly happy to take money from women so long as it doesn't involve actually talking to them, or asking them directly what they want. I certainly think less of his clients, and I can't have a lot of respect for the author, or anyone who holds up Best Buy as a model of customer service for any gender...or species, for that matter.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really, really peters out towards the end. He had me enraptured thinking about curves symbolizing women, giving a tour through the mall to show dressing rooms, cleanliness, etc. His other books are pretty spectacular and he made me think about the safety issues women are constantly struggling with (having names overheard in the hotel lobby, for instance). Soon, the food chapter just.....sounds like a cool coffee conversation with an observant friend, but loses all scientific merit. He frankly needed a better editor, a better direction, and more precise scientific details to back up his claims.

Still a great, fast read- he tries to combine Call of the Mall with Killing Us Softly, no small feat with wishy washy results. A great addition for women studies and media studies courses.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agreed with about half of his assessments on why and what women shop for. However, I thought he would have a more scientific approach to his conclusions. For instance, his statement that women don't smoke pot as often as men do is because they're worried about getting the munchies and getting fat as a result. Really? It seems like a big leap to conclude that based on the feedback from a couple of his female friends.
I enjoyed the first half of this book but then I realized that he was able to make broad statements with the caveat that he "never means to offend." That's great dude, but I'm not offended by the statements, but instead by your lack of research.
I don't think any women will find this book groundbreaking. However if you want to buy something for your dad or a boss who is trying to figure out some of the basic concerns women have when shopping, this is a good start.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book on how companies are changing to embrace the new roles women are playing, or in some cases, roles women were playing all along but never given credit for. Nowadays women have their own money to spend, and oftentimes are the people making decisions for a lot of the family's money as well. Paco Underhill covers many topics: printers, convenience stores, facebook, hotels, organic food, hardware, even house layouts. It's really interesting, though it doesn't really seem to break new ground, if that makes sense. It's more that he's informing you of changes that have already occurred and explaining why, with a little bit of research or comments from his personal (though very knowledgeable)friends. A quick read if it's something you're interested in, but nothing essential.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Underhill, the genius guru who owns the turf at the intersection of psychology & retail marekting, hits another homer. What do women want? It turns out they pretty much want to shop in a clean, well-light, safe place that treats them with respect and lets them easily get what they came for. If you think that sounds a lot like what humans in general want in a shopping experience, you're not wrong. It's just that women are more particular about it, more able to articulate it, more ardent in expressing it, and most importantly, more willing to take their dollars to those businesses who get it. Underhill's writing is engaging and personable, and there's treasure here for anyone who interacts with women -- or other humans -- in any public or professional capacity.

[Annett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Einige interessante Einsichten hat mir das Buch vermittelt, insgesamt ist es für mich jedoch zu sehr auf US-amerikanische Verhältnisse zugeschnitten, auch wenn der Autor immer wieder Beispiele aus aller Welt einstreut. Manches stimmt schlichtweg nicht: Es gibt - anders als bei Frauen - keine gemeinsamen "Hygiene-Rituale" bei Männern? Was ist beispielsweise mit dem türkischen Hammam? Vieles ist für mich - aus Frauensicht - nicht nachvollziehbar, aber das mag an der starken geographischen Ausrichtung liegen. Ein paar der einfacher Tipps würden aber sicher auch europäischen Geschäften gut stehen.

[Nura Yusof · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Paco Underhill. But this book is geared towards male readers which is somehow disturbing coz' even in this day and age, we still don't get each other. I am chuffed, however, at his assertion that most of the 'innovations' in the various retail spaces are influenced in one way or another, by women. Talk about hearing us roar. Having said that though, this book lacked 'Aha' moments which his two previous outings had.

Still a good read though.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another great book by Paco Underhill. In the book, Underhill explains how changing gender roles in society have influenced the way that we live, the way that we shop and the products that we buy. It is a great book for retailers, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople who work in all industries. As an added bonus, in this book, Underhill provides some early observations about how social media is influencing our day-to-day lives.