Gender · Lens 02
Deep Research Report · Available
Commerce & Spending
Women drive the overwhelming majority of consumer purchasing decisions, yet most product categories are still designed and marketed as if they don't.
Deep Research Report · 24 min read
How Women and Men Participate Differently in Commerce
Who spends, on what, when, why — and what the gap between purchasing power and commercial service reveals. Women influence 70–85% of consumer purchases and control $31.8T globally, yet feel systematically misunderstood by healthcare, automotive, and financial institutions.
Read the full report
Preview · key findings to be expanded
Women
- • Women make or influence 70–85% of all consumer purchasing decisions in the United States.
- • 74% of female auto buyers report feeling 'misunderstood' by automotive marketers.
- • Women control roughly $32 trillion in global consumer spending — projected to reach $43T by 2028.
- • In categories from finance to home improvement, women cite a persistent gap between what they buy and how they're addressed.
Men
- • Men are over-represented as the default 'user' in product imagery across automotive, finance, and tech categories.
- • Men are more likely to make impulsive single-item purchases; women dominate basket and category decisions.
- • In couples, men disproportionately handle 'big ticket' transactions while women drive recurring category spend.
- • Men's discretionary spend skews to hobbies, electronics, and dining; women's skews to household, health, and family.
Next · Lens 03
Political Participation