news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Author: Chen Yan

Editor｜Dafeng

In recent years, many hardware technology manufacturers have set their sights on female consumers.

For example, cars such as Xiaomi SU7, Wuling Hongguang MINIEV and ORA have appeared in the automobile market. Their exterior design, interior configuration and driving experience have all taken into account the aesthetic tastes and usage habits of female car owners.

For example, major manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor, and Xiaomi have successively launched small folding-screen mobile phones that have been nicknamed "beautiful little wastes". They focus on high appearance and photo-taking functions, and their initial design positioning was for the female user group.

You should know that in the past, the main audience of hardware products such as cars and mobile phones were men, so the product design was more stable and tough, tending to male aesthetics. But as the market develops to the present, personalized aesthetics has become more and more important, and the aesthetics and needs of the female group have also affected the production choices of hardware manufacturers.

From a higher perspective, the active response of technology hardware manufacturers to the rise of women's economic power is also an inevitable result of the consumer market driven by the tide of the times.

Car companies cater to women's needs

More and more car companies are starting to make a big fuss about catering to the needs of female car owners.

Take the recently popular Xiaomi car for example, it has the good looks of "MissGermany" and a relatively rounded design style; although it is positioned as a C-class car, its intelligent assisted driving system makes the car easy to drive, it has automatic parking function, and it is also easy to turn around; the car also has targeted sun protection and storage functions designed inside.

Xiaomi SU7

These female-friendly designs have made it popular among many female car owners.

Some time ago, Lei Jun also said in the live broadcast of his annual speech:"Among all the SU7 orders today, more than 40% are from female owners. I believe that the actual number of female owners who use the car may be close to 50%."

It should be noted that for a long time, the proportion of female car owners in China was not high. According to a white paper previously released by the Autohome Research Institute, from 2017 to 2020, the proportion of female users remained at more than 20%, and it was not until 2021 that it just exceeded 30%.

In other words, male car owners, who accounted for 70 to 80 percent in the past, are the undisputed main force.

The cars that sold well were also very different from what they are now.

For example, back in the 1980s and 1990s, the most popular "magic car" in China was the Shanghai Volkswagen Santana, which was mainly black and white with a clear body contour. One car could be sold for more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan. At that time, the average price of a house within the Third Ring Road in Beijing was only 2,000 yuan. In other words, a Santana could be exchanged for a house in Beijing.

Santana

At that time, the people who could afford Santana were either rich or noble, and it was not something that could be bought by just having money. One also needed a letter of introduction from a relevant unit and corresponding indicators. So in that era, Santana was either a business car or a government car, and its stable and majestic appearance was also a symbol of the owner's status.

The entire automobile market has undergone such a big change now, which has a lot to do with the significant improvement in the social status and voice of women.

Female consumers are increasingly aware of what kind of car they want, and are showing strong influence on purchasing power and consumption decisions. They will also further spread their consumption experiences and needs on many social media platforms, and provide reverse output to major automakers.

Car companies that have sensed market signals have also begun to actively cater to women's needs and vigorously tap the potential of the female market.

For example, the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, which was launched two years ago, has reaped a huge wave of benefits from women thanks to its mini shape, eye-catching colors and low price.

Wuling Hongguang MINI EV

It is reported that within less than two months after the delivery of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, 14,000 units were sold, and the monthly sales volume surpassed that of Tesla Model 3, and it once topped the list of domestic new energy vehicles. In more than two years, the sales volume of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV has exceeded 1 million.

At present, the female automobile market is still a sunrise market.

Mobile phone manufacturers aim at the "appearance + photography" track

Similar situations exist not only in the automotive field, but also in the mobile phone industry.

It is not difficult to find that in the past two years, more and more mobile phone manufacturers have launched small folding-screen mobile phones that are not expensive but have both good looks and photo-taking functions.

For example, Xiaomi's latest MIX Flip even launched a matching Xiaomi pocket photo printer, which is convenient for users to take photos and print them in one stop. Lei Jun said at the press conference that Xiaomi's technology can already meet the needs and hopes that everyone will call it "beautiful and cute" after using it.

Xiaomi small folding screen mobile phone

The Magic V Flip launched by Honor in June this year also features a stylish design and a SLR-level photo camera as its main selling point.

This series of operations by mobile phone manufacturers have touched upon the aesthetic tastes of girls.

If you recall, a few years ago, mobile phone manufacturers were competing with each other on product configuration, parameters, and performance that attracted digital enthusiasts, such as what processor was used, how much RAM was available, whether the screen was OLED or LCD, the resolution and refresh rate, and the battery life.

We talk about it every year and make comparisons every year, but the result is that there are fewer and fewer new things to talk about. The repetitive routines make people aesthetically fatigued, but the prices are getting higher and higher.

A very typical example is large folding-screen mobile phones, such as Huawei mate x5, Honor Magic V2, etc. The performance parameters are getting higher and higher, and the price is at least eight or nine thousand yuan, which is twice that of small folding-screen mobile phones.

But the question is, for most users, do they really need such a high-end mobile phone? In most scenarios, users only need to use WeChat and Alipay, watch short videos, play games, and take photos. In other words, the so-called ultimate performance configuration and powerful operating experience may not be felt by ordinary users at all.

As the replacement cycle of mobile phones becomes longer and longer, mobile phone manufacturers must find new concepts, new groups of people, and design differentiated new products to occupy the market segments.

After the rise of the "she" economy, small folding-screen mobile phones for female users have become the focus of manufacturers' layout. As for the parameters of the mobile phone, it is fine as long as it is sufficient.

The rise of women's economy, adapting to the changing times

Today, the various manifestations of the female economy in technology hardware are also a reflection of the times. To a certain extent, it is the result of the right time, right place and right people.

Take mobile phones for example. In fact, the concept of women's mobile phones is not new. More than ten years ago, in the era of feature phones, brands represented by DOOV decided to make mobile phones that were completely targeted at female audiences. At that time, the focus of DOOV mobile phones was also on appearance and photography.

DOOV mobile phone

But within two years of its glory, DOOV mobile phones went downhill and completely became a memory of the times.

The reason is actually very simple. On the one hand, mobile phone technology at that time was still in a rapid development stage. Mobile phones such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei brought fresh mobile smart experiences that were far more attractive than "women's mobile phones"; on the other hand, the consumption power of women at that time could not be compared with that of today.

Looking back, China's consumer market has only been around for more than 30 years, from the 1990s to the present, and everything has been a process from scratch.

In the beginning, cars and mobile phones focused more on functionality and practicality and were expensive. Only administrators and business people could afford them. In the past decade or so, with the upgrading of the mass consumer market, the performance, configuration and appearance of mobile phones and cars have been placed in a more important position.

By now, more subtle needs of women have been noticed, manufacturers have begun to actively design products for women, and women's purchasing has become more free.

From a macro-logical perspective, the rise of female consumerism also conforms to the development pattern of the consumer market from practicality and functionality to universality and applicability, and then to the current personalization.

In essence, major consumer goods such as cars and mobile phones are no longer dominated by male aesthetics. This is a manifestation of consumer equality and a normal evolution of the consumer market under the tide of the times.