Photo: Mercedes-Benz
SUV sales have been rising for a couple of years now, so a research company decided to look into the matter to see who has been buying them.
MaritzCX, a company that specializes in customer experience and research, monitored SUV sales from 2010 to 2015 in the USA.
They discovered that 34% of the sale increase in the small SUV segment came from women, while the premium sector of the small SUV market rose 177% in the same period, most of the sales being made by women.
The same research company discovered that 40% of female buyers monitored in the study were single at the time of purchase. Since we do not live in the 1950s’ patriarchal society, it is no surprise that women buy impressive numbers of cars. They also ride more bikes than ever before.
However, as the director of the research company quoted in a Bloomberg article stated, dealers must learn to cater adequately to the needs of female buyers.
“Single, professional women out there need vehicles, and you need to be attentive to them. They are going to make money, make their decisions, and can be very loyal customers,” says James Mulcrone.
The loyal customers part of Mulcrone’s statement stands out. As Bloomberg’s article shows, there is a study from Women-Drivers.com, a car dealer review service, which discovered that around 60% of women who leave a dealership without buying never return. Interestingly, the same study found that women tend to be loyal customers.
You do not have to work in sales to figure out a link between the two results we presented above. If you are a dealer that is inattentive to female customers, they might never return to your shop, ever. In extreme cases, they might not even buy from the brand you represent. The case is not the same with male customers, who might come back to the same dealer even if they do not buy a car from their first meeting.
Over two-thirds of female buyers of new vehicles in 2015 said that the purchase decision came entirely up to them, shows the study from MaritzCX. SUVs were appealing to women because of their cargo room and improving fuel economy when compared to predecessors and equivalent sedans. Meanwhile, SUVs and crossovers are outstripping sedan and coupe sales in the U.S. market, and automakers are adapting to this trend by slowly killing off models that are not popular anymore.
They discovered that 34% of the sale increase in the small SUV segment came from women, while the premium sector of the small SUV market rose 177% in the same period, most of the sales being made by women.
The same research company discovered that 40% of female buyers monitored in the study were single at the time of purchase. Since we do not live in the 1950s’ patriarchal society, it is no surprise that women buy impressive numbers of cars. They also ride more bikes than ever before.
However, as the director of the research company quoted in a Bloomberg article stated, dealers must learn to cater adequately to the needs of female buyers.
“Single, professional women out there need vehicles, and you need to be attentive to them. They are going to make money, make their decisions, and can be very loyal customers,” says James Mulcrone.
The loyal customers part of Mulcrone’s statement stands out. As Bloomberg’s article shows, there is a study from Women-Drivers.com, a car dealer review service, which discovered that around 60% of women who leave a dealership without buying never return. Interestingly, the same study found that women tend to be loyal customers.
You do not have to work in sales to figure out a link between the two results we presented above. If you are a dealer that is inattentive to female customers, they might never return to your shop, ever. In extreme cases, they might not even buy from the brand you represent. The case is not the same with male customers, who might come back to the same dealer even if they do not buy a car from their first meeting.
Over two-thirds of female buyers of new vehicles in 2015 said that the purchase decision came entirely up to them, shows the study from MaritzCX. SUVs were appealing to women because of their cargo room and improving fuel economy when compared to predecessors and equivalent sedans. Meanwhile, SUVs and crossovers are outstripping sedan and coupe sales in the U.S. market, and automakers are adapting to this trend by slowly killing off models that are not popular anymore.
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