Male Domination of Net Fading; 49% Online Are Women
The Internet’s days as a male-dominated club likely will end during the coming year as more women move online, according to results of a study being released today by a Seattle-based research firm.
Women accounted for 49% of Internet users during the fourth quarter of 1999, up from 43% in the first quarter of 1998, according to AdRelevance.
“When people think about the Internet, they traditionally have seen it as a domain completely ruled by men,” said Mark Ryan, AdRelevance’s media research director. “And many people still think of women as concentrating on women’s portals--the IVillage and Women.com sites.”
AdRelevance’s study confirms that women’s portals are popular, but data also suggest that females are moving into the online retail arena at an unexpectedly fast pace. November’s data are “obviously skewed toward the holiday season, but women are the ones going on to buy, to make actual purchases,” Ryan said. “Men, as they have been, appear to be more interested in content-related sites.”
The strong interest in online shopping “makes a lot of sense” because women control an estimated 75% of purchases made at shopping centers and malls, said Kurt Barnard, publisher of Upper Montclair, N.J.-based Barnard’s Weekly Retail Marketing Report.
“What’s surprising is the compression in the time that it takes from when people first go online to the point when they start making purchases,” said Cecilia Atkinson, vice president of marketing for Denver-based KBkids.com. “In the past, we’ve seen numbers suggesting that it takes 12 to 18 months for that to happen. This holiday season, we saw a real compression in that time frame.”
AdRelevance’s data also suggest that, along with women-oriented sites, women also are frequenting online toy stores, health sites and Web sites that offer retail savings and discount coupons. Women were less likely to visit such sites as CNET.com and ESPN.com, which are best known for technical content, financial information, sports and news.
The new data have significant implications for advertisers that want to reach different demographics, Ryan said. According to data collected by Media Metrix, AdRelevance’s parent company, popular sites among women are luring visitors by concentrating their online advertising at sites that women favor. Some companies, including Petstore.com, are running ads tailored specifically for women.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Mars.com, Venus.com
Women and men have different tastes in online sites. In the fourth quarter of 1999, women opted for toy retailers, women’s portals and health sites. Women were less likely to visit sites offering sports, news and financial information.
*
Sites With a Higher Concentration of Women
*--*
Unique users Percentage Site (in millions) of women Toysrus.com 2.9 65% EToys.com 2.9 62% IVillage.com* 2.4 69% Women.com* 2.1 69% Coolsavings.com 2.0 65% KBkids.com 1.9 73% Egreetings.com 1.8 64% OnHealth.com 1.8 63% FreeShop.com 1.8 66% ValuPage.com 1.7 65%
*--*
Sites With a Higher Concentration of Men
*--*
Unique users Percentage Site (in millions) of women CNET.com 2.8 35% ZDNet 2.4 33% ESPN.com 1.3 27% WindowsMedia 1.3 36% Broadcast.com 1.3 36% SportsLine USA 1.1 32% MoneyCentral 1.0 34% HP.com 0.9 33% USAToday.com 0.9 35% NFL.com 0.7 26%
*--*
*
* Multiple sites
Source: AdRelevance
