National Clothesline

There has been a revolution over the past 15 years in consumer products and retailing, mostly driven by women. Women going to work, women earning equal wages, women being responsible for — yes, it’s true — 100 percent of the growth in discretionary family income.

She keeps tight control over her own or her family’s budget, scrimping here and there. But she isn’t afraid to splurge on luxury items that make her feel special.

By the year 2030, possibly a little earlier, the average woman will earn more than the average man, all as a result of education. Women are the majority in undergraduate and graduate schools at this point. Today’s young woman earns equal wages to her equivalent young man.

Because she is better educated, she is going to make more money in the long-term. This is creating a massive change in the balance of power in the home. Twenty-seven percent of dual-income families have a woman who makes more than the man does. And that number is growing rapidly.

The most active force out there is the two-income household. The incomes flow down two avenues. There’s a “household budget” avenue and all of his income basically goes there. It covers rent or mortgage, car payments, insurance, utilities and food. Then there’s the avenue that goes into her checking account. That is discretionary spending. This one is the power force. This is where she exercises total control.

She calls the shots. She decides when the family is going to have a new kitchen, when they’re going to go on vacation and when they are going out to dinner. She decides when they have a few extra dollars and someone in the family needs a new luxury item like a high-end pair of exercise shoes or a new pair of designer jeans. She is picking out his clothes, as well as her own. And she decides when and where they should be drycleaned.

It’s not that men are being pushed around. It’s just that women are becoming more equal. In terms of knowledge, she’s the one who has acquired a knowledge about shopping. She is the goods and services acquisition expert. Other than tools and automobiles, she is much more likely to know what good value is.

What these women want are things that please them. She is looking for emotional highs. She gets emotional highs from both ends of the spectrum – from buying a very small number of luxury goods and services and buying things that are terrific values. It is no longer shameful to buy things at a deep discount. In fact, consumers are out there looking for them, whether it’s a closeout sale or one-priced drycleaning. If she feels the value’s there, she’ll buy it!

All of this is causing changes in the marketplace. One of them is bifurcation. The high end and the low end are growing. The middle is shrinking. Consumers get a lot of satisfaction from getting a bargain, and they get a lot of satisfaction from buying high-end services, even at full price. But they get no satisfaction from buying middle-of-the-road drycleaning.

While this may make women, in general, seem kind of self-indulgent, they are really serious, loving women who care about their families. They trade up in two or three categories for themselves and two or three categories for their families.

They also trade down in many other categories. They go to Costco, Wal-Mart, Sam’s and Trader Joe’s. They watch their money closely. They only want to purchase where they feel there is real value for their dollar.

So what should drycleaners learn from this? It’s that one woman tells another woman, “This is the most fantastic cleaner I’ve ever used!” It’s word of mouth. But very few cleaners use their satisfied customers as advocates. Very few cleaners reach out to their customers and say, “If you refer me to your friends and neighbors, I’ll give you some benefit.”

Many women, today, make large incomes. They spend sizable amounts of that income on their personal appearances. They really care how they look. Some are single and looking for Mr. Right. They want to package themselves to get his attention.

You have to decide whether you’re a trade-up or a trade-down brand. If you’re in the middle, you have to decide how you’re going to move out of a shrinking market.

This is not a temporary market shift. It’s a permanent change. It’s actually going to become more pronounced over the next five years.