question hour

Women power purchases

Have women and their attitudes to retail changed over the decades? If so, how?

Hyderabad

Valli, consumer behaviour patterns among women in India have changed radically and continually over the last nine decades and more. The earliest of those decades saw literally no participation by women in what they bought. In the early Twenties, if you were to peek into the life of your grandmother or great-grandmother, for that matter, women just did not show themselves to be active buyers at all. The woman sat at home, and consumed just about anything that the man and men of the house brought in. There was indeed a time when it was taboo for a woman in early India to go to the corner grocer even. Women expressed their choices to their husbands and brothers and fathers, and the men bought. At times, it was just the men’s own choice. In many ways, the way marriages were and are conducted in India says it all. The women had little choice. More often than not, “purchase behaviour” here was dictated as well.

Today, however, love marriages are in vogue. Marketers today study consumer behaviour patterns among women differently as opposed to that among men and children. And women dictate purchase decisions strongly today.

Brands in the startup space are burning out. I lead one and I can smell it coming. Is frustration ahead?

Mumbai

Bhagyashree, the start-up eco-system is a pressure cooker situation, by and large.

Failure is a day-to-day occurrence. There is tension in the air, for sure. But, what you make of this tension is important. Entrepreneurs at the top of the pecking order absorb the bulk of the tension. This pertains to funding, manning, competition and lots and lots more. Worse is to absorb all the tension and yet not let an iota seep through to your key employees. The CEO entrepreneur is a small blotting paper that sits at the top and absorbs.

Entrepreneur-leaders deal with failure differently. The old habit was to call a failure a learning. Not anymore. If you keep failing at what you are doing, life is telling you something you are not willing to listen to.

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