Women continue to lead online shopping but what is their behavior and what influences them? A white book published this January by Fleishman Hillard found that 50% of women in 2011 are influenced by friends and family to buy or not a product or service, representing an increase of 61% compared to 31% who responded the same in 2008.

This year 2012, 61% of the women belonging to the generation of the new Millennium said that the opinion of friends and family influenced when making a purchase, followed by 46% of women of Generation X, 36% of the Boomers and 29% of the Seniors.

The propensity of women to be influenced by their friends and family is related to the enormous importance they give to the recommendations, as 84% ​​of the Millennium and 79% of the X said they have bought or not a product according to the advice of their relatives, while 88% of the first and 80% of the second said that having a person they trust to advise them when making a purchase is a great comfort.

Equally, this should not be surprising, since a study conducted in June by Nielsen found that the high penetration rates of technology among women did not matter in developed or emerging countries, because by itself it does not ensure the purchase, but the recommendations are the most reliable source among this genre: 73% in developed countries and 82% in emerging countries.

The role of social networks

A priori, social networks are playing an important role in the influence of purchase, more taking into account that 73% of women said they use Facebook, compared to 65% who said in January 201, and 65% said that I was a fan of a company or brand in this social network. More than a quarter in turn, said that the use of social media facilitates the decision of a purchase and that they use the site to share their experiences.

However, this should not create false expectations because in-person conversations, whether in social gatherings (53%), at work (39%) or in a store (21%), are the most popular method among women for collect information or obtain recommendations.

They are followed by the use of telephone with 27%, email with 16%, use of social networks with 15%, SMS with 12% and publications in blogs or review sites with 6%.

Another data of great interest is that 88% of women said they trust their intuition when making a purchase, and to leave doubts, we also know why they rely so much on the recommendations: 58% believe that they they recommended so that they can enjoy and benefit from a certain good product and 54% because they believe that others want them to experience the same positive experience that those who recommended have lived.