July 2010

What Real Moms Want

A Local Perspective

By Erin Mantz

Jessica McFadden's entire day is about saving time, cutting down on worry and preserving quality. This mom of two, who shares her daily dealings on the blog AParentInSilverSpring.com, puts home-cooked, healthy meals high on her priority list, but she is a smart and realistic shopper. "I don't have oodles of time to tinker in the kitchen or spend Saturdays wandering around the farmers' market," she said. So she found a solution: investing in a convection oven to roast organic chicken breasts in half the time, rather than purchasing frozen chicken nuggets or picking up fast food. Also focused on spending wisely, she buys frozen vegetables so she doesn't have to worry about moving fresh-picked snow peas she never used from her fridge to the trash.

McFadden is a prime example of what a recent Advertising Age white paper calls The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom. It takes a closer look at what today's moms really want, how they shop and what gets their attention. Guided by a new kind of pragmatism and redefined priorities, today's Generation X and Y moms are savvy shoppers, focused on eating healthier, saving time and money and gravitating towards brands that speak to their identities as moms and as women. Since women control $4.3 trillion of the $5.9 trillion in U.S. consumer spending, or 73 percent of household spending, according to estimates by the Boston Consulting Group, what moms think--and do--matters to stores and brands.

Knowing there are 75 million moms in the United States who influence 85 percent of all household purchases (Mom Central Consulting 2010), Washington Parent decided to talk with some Washington, D.C.,-area consumer moms and get local insight into the stores, websites, companies and brands that seem to speak to moms in ways that make sense. We also checked with experts in the marketing-to-mom arena to better understand how millions of dollars are laid on the line to reach us.

Convenience Is King (Queen)

Who hasn't dreaded a day full of errands or a trip through a store with a cranky/restless/demanding/hungry toddler in tow? One-stop shops are a perfect solution. One word: Target. There's a reason the fan base for the Facebook group "I went to Target to buy shampoo and I spent $150" has grown to more than 106,452 people. Moms know that being able to buy workout gear, dog beds, birthday presents, light bulbs, serving pieces, washcloths, bathing suits, serving spoons, patio furniture, Pringles, soccer cleats, make-up brushes, cheap Croc-like kids' sandals, face masks, yogurt tubes and Wii games all in one place is all anyone can really ask for.

Time Savers

One feeling that rings true for many moms today (regardless of socioeconomic status and the fact that dads participate more than ever in this generation) is that they don't have enough time to do all that they need and want to do.

Feeling frantic as the dinner hour approaches is all too familiar to moms who work both inside and outside the home. How to take the chaos out of the pre-six o'clock dinner hour is an ongoing challenge. Many moms today lack the time, energy and organizational skills to get a great-tasting, home-cooked meal on the table. Mom Aviva Goldfarb of Chevy Chase started the Six O'Clock Scramble at thescramble.com to provide family-tested, quick, healthy and easy recipes, generate grocery lists and discuss eco-friendly practices. Her meal-planning subscription service even includes solutions for picky eaters and the increasing number of food-allergic kids.

Smart Spending

Moms research the best deals online for a product they see in a store. They watch for free shipping on their favorite websites, sign up for sales alerts and take time to search for coupon codes and markdowns--all online. Costco has benefited from many moms getting lost in the aisles of offerings and braving the lines, buying bulk packs of juice boxes and batteries so they don't have to pay more or run the same errand the following week. D.C.-area mom Erin Gifford created Coupon Cravings (couponcravings.com) knowing what moms want, and today her site receives more than 300,000 visits a month. Coupon Cravings offers freebies like magazine subscriptions, free with purchase items, free samples and more. Some of Gifford's most popular postings cover current deals at groceries and drugstores, which might make a mom choose to visit one over the other. "Moms like stretching their dollar and finding good quality at a good price," Gifford says. "Many people are still struggling in this economy, and though things have rebounded slightly, many are still pinching pennies. Today's moms, especially those who have chosen to stay home with their children, like to have an impact in their family budget."

Communications That Click

Today's moms are on the go and more mobile than ever before. They count on their BlackBerrys, late night web surfing, social networks and blogs to stay updated on the latest products, services, solutions and concerns. Moms themselves have been stirred by the entrepreneurial spirit and have risen to the challenge of creating sites, blogs and e-newsletters like Vital Juice Moms (vitaljuice.com/moms) and DesignMom.com. For example, moms can sign up for a weekly Vital Juice Moms e-newsletter to get tips and product ideas on how to help them take better care of their kids and themselves. iPhone apps are on the rise, companies ask moms to review products online and moms Twitter about favorite and disappointing products and places.

Brands That Stick

J.Crew found a special place in many moms' hearts in their college or single days, and they still shop there today. Today, many also buy crewcuts, the J.Crew children's line in the same store. Several moms say, "I shopped there after college and I still love it!" The J.Crew brand has grown with these women, and it builds on a connection forged at a time when being single and stylish might have meant an easier life and a lighter load.

Johnson & Johnson's baby bath products have long been a scent and symbol of comfort, softness and raising clean, happy and healthy babies. Perhaps that's why I went for the new Johnson & Johnson adult body lotion when my eyes scanned the dozens of brands in the drugstore aisle yesterday. I used the brand on my kids, my mom used it on me, so how can it be wrong?

Healthy Eating

Moms have a way of finding solutions and still providing healthy meals for their families and themselves, even when time is tight. They spend time reading food labels, researching healthy menu options at local restaurants and surfing the Internet for just the right recipes. When a popular restaurant changes something, moms can create a buzz throughout the community in a matter of days, like California Tortilla recently taking a certain salad off the menu and turning the spice of their blackened chicken down a tad. Moms who become members of their "Burrito Elito" group there find they quickly earn $5-off rewards and weekly e-mails giving them secret words for free, special Wednesday evening extras. And while serving high quality, fresh and healthy food is a must for restaurants looking to attract moms, the environment matters too. Keeping kids at the table is half the battle. Why did Chicken Out stop giving out free crayons and placemats for kids?

Going Green and Doing Good

Stop in a Whole Foods or MOM's Organic Market at almost any time of day, and you can see the crowds filling their carts. Whether it's shopping for chemical-free sunscreen or keeping a stash of reusable sandwich bags in the kitchen, many moms want to do their part for a better environment. They will buy the products and brands that help them fulfill that role and share a sense of saving the planet. One mom will drive the extra ten minutes to get to Whole Foods so she can find more organic food choices and all-natural beauty products, an example of how living an environmentally friendly life may be more important than saving time (another big priority) on a given day. One mom counts on a brand called Ecover for all her cleaning and laundry supplies, because they are all-natural.

When three moms heard that more than 20 million sandwich bags from school lunches go into landfills every day, they invented LunchSkins (LunchSkins.com), reusable sandwich bags that look stylish, reduce landfill waste, save moms money and stand up to dishwasher runs. Based in Potomac, LunchSkins' creators, called 3greenmoms, are a strong example of devising products that meet moms' needs on multiple levels.

Moms like it when good shopping goes with doing good, and these opportunities are on the rise. Beauty parties are held at homes where friends can shop for, and see part of the sales proceeds go to, charity; stores hold special nights promoting a portion of their sales to a good cause. Shops highlight products made in developing countries and guarantee part of the money goes back to the community of those creators. Online stores may dedicate part of a day's sales to a favorite cause or environmental effort.

What Smart Marketers Know

Given the rise in numbers, strength and spending of today's consumer moms, firms across the country have launched with specialties in marketing to moms. Long-standing leading public relations and advertising agencies now have divisions targeting this key population. Mom Central CEO and founder Stacy DeBroff runs Mom Central Consulting, an agency that strategically connects some of the biggest brands in the world to moms. As her website at momcentralconsulting.com states, word-of-mouth has become the strongest form of marketing to target the mom market: 55 percent of moms rely on recommendations when purchasing for the home, 65 percent when purchasing for their child. So, DeBroff helps brands reach moms where they are, whether it's on the playground, in playgroups, through blogger networks, in chat rooms and in their living rooms.

"Technology has allowed moms to find voices for themselves," DeBroff says. "Mom bloggers can attract an audience of hundreds of thousands who want to hear their opinions and share similar experiences. As moms continue to connect and share online in ever increasing numbers, they are paying much less attention to traditional brand advertising methods. They are revealing that they care much more about what other moms say about a brand or product through opinions and stories shared both on- and off-line."

The business of marketing to moms has made millionaires out of some top mom bloggers who started out simply venting about their to-do lists, given moms a place at the table in product design stages at leading companies, built some brands and busted others, and created a new respect for the day-to-day to-do list of the consumer mom. It's a respect well-deserved, and, increasingly, well-communicated.

Nothing got a few dozen moms more excited during the interviews for this article than when I asked what they would do if they could have a free concierge service for a week. The most common and interesting answers:

Yes, "cleaning the house" was mentioned, but not nearly as much as the requests above!

Real Moms Go to the Trusted Source: Washington Parent Can Help Save You Time

Erin Mantz (erinmantz.com) is a writer and communications professional based in Potomac, where she lives with her two sons, 4 and 8, and her two dogs, Rizzo and Gingi.