Why Women?

Because women make 70% of all liquor purchases

(and middle aged women account for 62% of vodka purchases made in stores)

Women are closing the drinking gap, consuming more alcohol at restaurants while making most of the purchasing  decisions for at-home consumption. That has alcohol producers and entrepreneurs trying to deliver what they think women want.

"The fact of the matter is that women in this country constitute the majority of vodka consumers, and they've been ignored,'' said Adam Kamenstein, chief executive of privately-held Voli Spirits LLC, which a year ago rolled out Voli Light vodkas with the tagline "stay sexy.'' 

Women's drinking patterns have been shifting for at least 20 years, says  Gary Stibel, founder of the New England Consulting Group. Stibel said that women make 65 percent to 70 percent of the alcohol-purchasing decisions for at-home consumption.

"I buy the stuff. This is how it's always been,'' said Sharon Wolfson, 34, outside a Highland Park beverage store. She said her husband long ago ceded liquor 
 to her. Her purchases Friday for a party included whiskey, bourbon, vodka and beer.

Low-calorie beverages did not make the cut.

"I'm not that kind of a girl," Wolfson said. "I saw an entire women's section in there, but it's not for me. I don't think about calories while I'm drinking."

After decades of advertising that may have alienated women, at least in part by depicting women as sex objects, alcohol marketers are looking for ways to connect with them.

"Spirits companies oftentimes are not as adept at appealing to women," [ya think?] acknowledged Bill Newlands, president of Beam North America.

Source:  "Alcohol Marketers Looking For What Women Want," Chicago Tribune, March 28, 2011.