What do women really want? Mike Ginley knows. And does anyone want to know how Mike Ginley knows what women really want? Get this, he asks them.
Ginley is the president of Next Level Marketing and in an on-line study of consumers he found that 30% of the women who frequent casual restaurants said that they preferred drinking spirits and cocktails, compared to 12% who responded wine and 7% beer.
In contrast, men skewed to drinking primarily beer (34%) and spirits (14%).
Women are more likely to try new cocktails. In the survey 41% said that they had ordered a new cocktail within the last 30 days, compared to only one third of the men. When asked what was the most important attribute in a beverage, both the women (65%) and men (59%) overwhelmingly responded taste. It turns out that women are more price conscious then men, 12% of whom said price was the most important factor, whereas men were more influenced (18%) by the beverage brand.
Regardless of gender, the Margarita remains this nation's favorite cocktail with (40%) of women and (33%) of men saying it is their drink of choice. After that, preferences differ sharply between the sexes. Women prefer flavored Martinis (23%), Daiquiris (21%), Piña Coladas (15%), Mudslides (12%), Cosmopolitans (11%) and Mojitos (8%). In contrast, men skewed toward mixed drinks such as Rum & Coke (28%), Vodka Martini (15%), Screwdriver (11%) and bourbon on the rocks (8%).
When it comes to spirit brands, women and men again share little common ground. Women preferred drinking Bacardi Rum (33%) more than any other spirit, followed by Kahlúa (27%), Baileys (26%), Absolut (24%), Smirnoff (20%), Malibu (12%) and Skyy Vodka (8%). Compare this to the men, who responded that Jack Daniel's (28%) was their spirit brand of choice, followed by Grey Goose (19%), Crown Royal (17%), Jim Beam (14%) and Tanqueray Gin (13%).
Ginley's study revealed other interesting things about female consumers. When going out to eat at a casual restaurant, 90% of women responded that they would stop after two drinks, with 40% saying that they'd stop after the first. On the other hand, 23% of men say that they would purchase at least a third drink. Around 60% of the respondents said that they start out an evening without a preconceived notion of what they'll drink. Both genders--women (28%) and men (20%)--said that drink specials are the most significant on-premise influencer. After that, women are most influenced by special price promotions (20%) and drink menus (18%).
While on the subject of drink menus, 82% of women responded that they read it compared to 66% of the men. In addition, 78% women said that the most important element of the menu is the drink descriptions, compared to 54% who responded pictures of the featured drinks.The methodology used in study is also of interest. It was conducted in December 2006 for Cheers Magazine and 2,260 consumers participated. Out of that group, 1311 (58%) responded that they had visited a chain restaurant within the past 30 days. Of those people, 728 (56%) said that they had purchased beverage alcohol while at the restaurant and they were ones selected for the study. Four hundred and two of them were (and remain) women.
When Ginley says he knows what the fairer sex really wants, listen to him.
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