From Storefront to Strategy: How Women Leaders Are Transforming Omnichannel Retail

Women control a significant share of the shopping power and decision-making within the household, so any retail organization that markets to them is marketing to the majority. While women leadership in retail is still a small percentage compared to men, it's growing in prominence and potential. By evaluating the ways that women bring diverse perspectives and understanding to omnichannel retail, female leaders can see how they pave the way for a bright future for the industry. 

Relevant Perspectives 

Women affect about 85 percent of household purchasing. Retail companies that market to women risk losing out on valuable consumer relationships if they fail to include women’s perspectives in their strategic planning. Although women as a group are not a monolith, women in leadership are more likely to understand experiences that are common to women. For example, women executives may be more aware of the “pink tax,” in which some retailers charge more for products that are marketed to women, even if they're functionally indistinguishable from products for men. Women bring knowledge and understanding that men may not even know exists. 

Diverse Ideas 

The infamous Stanford marshmallow experiment shows what happens when researchers use limited perspectives to make broad statements about how regular people make decisions. Companies that hire very similar people to decide how to market to a diverse population are likely to make silly mistakes that cost them. Putting women in retail leadership doesn't just provide a woman consumer’s perspective, it opens the door to diversity of ideas that can change a retail company’s future. Women’s innovative approaches can drive campaigns that improve reach and profitability, using tools like mobile apps or outdoor retail kiosks. 

Comprehensive Strategic Oversight 

With a greater understanding of the ways that women shop, women retail leaders offer great opportunities for comprehensive strategic oversight. Although women are more likely to handle the shopping for the household in most cases, omnichannel retail reflects this in different ways. For example, women are less likely than men to shop on a computer, emphasizing the importance of a seamless mobile shopping experience. Young women are more likely to make a purchasing decision after engaging with content on social media, demonstrating the value of content creation as a marketing tactic. 

Greater Resilience 

The retail industry has been going through major changes, and many companies haven’t survived the transition to online, social media, and more. With a greater reserve of resilience, women can help their businesses to stay at the top. Women are more likely to face negative assessments of their ability to perform. Research indicates that people who must cope with regular challenges and occasional failures are more likely to bounce back over time than those who have clear sailing from the start. As such, women are better positioned to help companies evaluate their failures and build back in ways that increase their likelihood of success.  

Improved Decision-Making 

Although men are traditionally associated with greater use of technology, women’s reliance on omnichannel retail shows how promoting women can improve decision-making for the organization as a whole. Women spend more time on social media, with young women claiming the biggest share of the pie. Key stakeholders must understand their demographics’ experiences to make effective decisions for the future of the company, and women are more likely to be where the shoppers are. As such, organizations with a greater percentage of women in leadership are more likely to report better decision-making. 

Better Opportunities for Women 

Having more women in leadership roles gives entry- and mid-level workers something to shoot for, which can improve their career trajectories. A company that prizes diversity in the C-suite is more likely to consider what it takes to prepare women for leadership at the lower rungs, which can set them up for success later. Since CEOs more often come from inside the organization than out, this investment can pay off. There's a positive correlation between higher numbers of women in leadership and feelings of inclusivity and equal treatment, which can prompt talented women to stick with the company. 

Increasing Profitability 

Since survival and growth is the goal, increasing profitability is a key benefit of women’s leadership. Women have diversity of perspectives and resilience that can help drive growth in ways that companies may not have imagined decades ago. They can dynamically estimate the importance of changes to the industry as a whole, such as supply chain efficiency, the growing need for data analytics, and personalized engagement. They also pave the way for others to come after them, increasing the sustainability of the business model. With these advantages, it makes sense that companies with a diverse coalition in leadership are about 40 percent more likely to outperform their competitors. 

In many ways, women represent the future of retail. By creating opportunities for women to excel in leadership, companies reap the benefits of varied perspectives and approaches to the transformation of omnichannel retail. 

Cheryl Lesniak is the director of marketing at Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc., a manufacturer of retail displays and interactive kiosks.