Companies embrace women’s yen to remodel

SAN FRANCISCO — Looking for that perfect gift for the woman in your life?

Try power tools.

With women comprising half of residential customers at stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, and a home-remodeling market that reaps $125 billion a year, retailers, tool-makers and others are embracing the idea that women are a serious force in the home-improvement market.

From True Value’s Web site, where products for “handy-mom” share top billing with “gourmet-mom,” to Rubbermaid’s women-focused Tough Tools — the site includes images of women showing men how to get the job done — companies have ramped up efforts to attract the female do-it-yourselfer’s dollar.

Women hosts on home improvement shows are legion, including Lynda Lyday on the call-in show “Talk2DIY,” Amy Devers on “DIY to the Rescue,” and Jodi Marks on HGTV’s “Fix It Up!”

And Harry Harrison, male host of HGTV’s “Help Around the House” generally works with female homeowners. Even magazines are popping up, such as the new Woodworking for Women, which promises “Woodworking … It’s not just for men!”

“I keep an eye on five to 10 industries. This is the second most advanced one,” outdone only by financial services companies in its marketing to women, said Martha Barletta, author of “Marketing to Women” (Dearborn 2003) and chief executive of TrendSight, a marketing consulting firm based in the Chicago area.

Doing the Math

The industry, including retailers, manufacturers and television-show producers, is “doing back flips because it’s suddenly becoming apparent that women are a much bigger factor in the home improvement decision than they realized,” Barletta said.

“Ace Hardware did a study and found that their women customers spent 50 percent more than their male customers,” she said. “If women are half of the customers and they’re spending 50 percent more, it doesn’t take much to do the math.”

Home Depot reports that 200,000 women have attended its Do-It-Herself remodeling workshops, initiated a year ago, while Lowe’s started addressing women’s tastes in its store redesigns about 10 years ago.

“We know that women make 85 percent of the home-improvement decisions,” said Chris Ahearn, a Lowe’s spokeswoman. That realization led to new stores that are brightly lit, with wide aisles and products within easy reach.

“Our stores are also very uncluttered and extremely clean,” Ahearn said, making for a “shopping environment that’s very attractive to women, and men don’t mind either. While women are more discerning shoppers, men like all the same things women do.”

Are We There Yet?

While most agree that Lowe’s has excelled at gearing towards women, other retailers are “straddling the issue,” Barletta said.

“Lowe’s is saying, ‘We know where the money is, we get it, we’re fixing it,’ ” she said. While Home Depot has made strides, company executives make comments such as “we don’t want to alienate men, so we don’t want to change (our stores) that much,” Barletta said.

Ace Hardware has made some store design changes, but the company’s Web site makes few references to women and tools, and the Mother’s Day “gift ideas” page shows a kitchen cart, copper bowl, garden bench and cooking pot.

As an industry, “they’re getting the idea. It doesn’t mean there isn’t more good stuff that they could do,” Barletta said. “They don’t have the marketing savvy of a retailer like Target. There’s a lot more they could be doing in terms of promotions and services. They’re still focused on product.”

For example, to appeal to time-starved women, she said, stores could offer regular delivery of potted plants, timed to seasonal changes.

Others agreed that the industry has more to do. “We’re just scratching the surface,” said Lynda Lyday, co-host of Talk2DIY and a union contractor.

She’s writing a home repair guidebook, will launch a women-friendly tool line this summer, and plans a construction-work clothing line.

“Look at what the food network has done for men getting involved in the kitchen,” she said. “Men aren’t closet cooks anymore. You don’t even have to be a metrosexual to have the right appliances in the kitchen. It’s become quite fashionable. That’s starting to happen with women and tools.”

Tool Time

A new generation of women-friendly tools is emerging also. Barbara Kavovit launched her Barbara K product line a year ago, selling her tool kit in Bloomingdales and Macy’s as well as more traditional hardware settings. The company pulled in $2.5 million in the second half of 2003, she said.