• by Karlene Lukovitz , May 15, 2008

Married women in households earning $150,000 or more per year make nearly two-thirds (64%) of the buying decisions, and they most certainly recognize and reward marketers that show them respect (and punish those who don't).

 

Those are some takeaways from a new survey out of The Luxury Institute, a New York-based independent firm that provides publications, research, rankings and networking for high-net-worth individuals and companies that market to them.

The lowdown:

• Women make the home appliance decisions in 68% of households, and the travel decisions in 61%.

• They make the health-care calls, including choice of plans and providers, in 48% of such households, and the home improvement purchases in the same percentage.

• Two-thirds of wealthy women say they make family financial decisions jointly with their husbands, but fully 22% say that they make all of these financial decisions on their own.

• Automobile and consumer electronics purchases are controlled by women in 40% of wealthy households, and real estate buys in 31%.

Their influence reflects the clout that comes with having their own substantial incomes. Nearly three-quarters (72%) work on at least a part-time basis, 54% work full time, 60% earn at least $100,000 a year, and their median income is $124,000.

Furthermore, one-third hold jobs at the vice presidential or higher level, 22% hold managerial positions, 12% serve on a board of directors, 88% hold at least a bachelor's degree, and 35% have a master's degree.

Clearly, "winning over wealthy women is a do-or-die proposition for companies in industries as varied as travel, health care, financial services and home improvement," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza.

Some companies clearly get it. For example, Marriott, Hilton, Visa and Home Depot each earned an unaided mention from 7% of respondents for being companies that do the best job of marketing to wealthy women.

The two hotel chains have taken steps to make women--especially women traveling alone on business--feel safer and more comfortable; Visa has been catering to their financial and transactional needs; and Home Depot has made it easy for women overseeing or implementing home improvement projects to get in-store assistance and/or hire trustworthy HD crews to do the work, Pedraza says.

Equally important, all have mastered marketing to and communicating with women in an honest, non-condescending manner, Pedraza stresses. "It's positively confounding that, with the buying clout of women in general and wealthy women in particular, so many companies have not learned to have a productive dialogue with these consumers," he adds. "Some companies are actually still sitting around wondering if it's worth it to address women in their marketing."

Wealthy women, in particular, have the clout and confidence to "call companies out" when they have issues with product/service quality or marketing and advertising approaches, he also points out.

But Pedraza didn't really need a survey to clue him in on any of these points, including the last one. Recently, he reports, his own wife walked out of a Best Buy store after a salesperson asked why her husband wasn't with her ... taking her $3,000-plus TV purchase elsewhere.