Strong digital presence “key to connecting with active women”, says study of 50,000 shoppers

A new study by Hanson Dodge Creative, taking in feedback from 50,000 “active women” has found that 66% are more likely than non-active women to make online purchases.

Summarised in the below infographic, the How Active Women Shop study found that active women are big spenders on mobile devices and are twice as likely to make purchases in this way.

Further benefiting retailers who sell effectively here, word of mouth and social reach is up to 38% greater among the demographic, found the study. To date, such a strategy has worked well for specialist women’s cycling retailers who have invested well and have the right approach to online sales.

A bit of a no brainer, but further analysis shows that 80% of active women are more likely to spend $150 or more on athletic apparel than the less active female. In fact, many will spend $500 or more extra online annually on their chosen sport, according to the findings.

The findings here correlate with that of women’s cycling brand Liv’s experiences in the USA, where it now represents near 40% of Giant’s trade.

Founder Bonnie Tu told CyclingIndustry.News at the time: “What we are finding too is that females are buying at least one or two different outfits to cycle in every year. With the right approach you’ll have a far more regular customer. If you are selling a refrigerator to a woman, you’ll see them once every ten years. If you sell a bicycle and make the experience rewarding, they’ll be back regularly.”

You can read that interview, which offers some great insight into selling cycling products effectively to women here.

Hanson Dodge has a number of cycling industry clients, most notably including Trek. You can read their analysis of the figures here.