From stuffed toys to sports cars, sales break gender rules

When Hamleys, the British toy retailer owned by Reliance Retail, removed gender-based sections at its stores three years back, it never expected that a sizeable proportion of stuffed toys would be bought by boys.

Meanwhile, girls are increasingly buying the so-called ‘toys for boys’, such as drones and remote-control cars. Almost 25- 30% of the sales at Hamleys now are of toys which were once marketed for a particular gender and are now bought by customers of the other gender.

When Lamborghini global chief executive Stephan Winklemann went on a market visit during his India trip in February, he was surprised to find female buyers for the Italian company’s sports cars here, when it is a more male-driven brand globally. He himself met a few female customers during the visit, Winklemann told ET at the time.

Gender norms are blurring when it comes to purchasing decisions in categories from daily essentials and toys to major appliances and automobiles, especially in urban India with more men and women donning newer hats in their social and professional lives, and female consumers becoming financially independent early, marketers said. Consumer goods companies are tweaking their marketing strategies to address this change.

According to sales data from electronics industry market researcher GfK, women bought half the televisions and ACs that were sold in India last year, compared with 43-45% in 2019. In the automobiles market, women are emerging as a big buyer class, accounting for 14-15% of total sales as compared to 8-9% five years back, as per industry estimates. They are buying SUVs, luxury vehicles and sports cars.

Meanwhile, men, who were traditionally the decision-makers in the purchase of big-ticket items, are now increasingly involved in the purchase of staples and other kitchen essentials, often doing the shopping themselves. Companies like Havells are seeing an emerging trend of male consumers buying kitchen appliances such as mixer-grinder and ovens.

The rise of ecommerce and modern retail is helping change gender stereotypes, said Angshu Mallick, chief executive of Adani Wilmar that sells the Fortune brand of edible oils and other essentials.

The Unisex Approach
Adani Wilmar is marketing more in news and sports television channels, newspapers and also changing the communication strategy of its advertisements to a more unisex approach as compared to targeting the women or housewives earlier.

Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo has started selling unisex apparel in India and is promoting them through mannequins and in-store marketing activities.

Anant Jain, head of customer success — tech and durables, at GfK India said the rise in female buyers, especially in large cities, can be attributed to factors such as increased awareness and the availability of diverse buying touchpoints, including ecommerce platforms. “Younger women shoppers and housewives are also influential in purchasing decisions for consumer tech products,” he said.

An industry that probably has seen the most changes in gender stereotypes is automobiles.

“We see more and more women playing the lead influencer role in the vehicle purchase decision,” Hyundai Motor India chief operating officer Tarun Garg said.