Tech firms step up marketing targeted at women

 Electronics companies Samsung, LG, Daewoo try to win over female consumers with customized products


Korea’s major tech companies are stepping up marketing targeted at women consumers as their purchasing power grows rapidly.

Market analysts said manufacturers of electronics products and digital devices are trying to win the hearts of women with unique and differentiated marketing strategies or customized products.

“Due to the fact that the ultimate decision makers for the purchase of home appliances are mostly women, those products which fail to meet the needs of females will unlikely succeed in markets,” said an analyst, asking not to be named.

LG Electronics is currently making use of hands-on experience with the firm’s multi-functional oven and vacuums, offering cooking classes as well as childcare lessons for women.

In a cooking session last weekend with nine engaged couples, an instructor guided the future husbands on how to cook pasta with octopus with LG’s Dios multi-functional oven.

“It was satisfying for me to watch and take photos of my fiance as it was his first time to cook for me,” said 27-year-old participant Gu Sun-mi. “It naturally led me to think that I would need one of these since cooking seemed so easy with it.”

Gu, who is planning to marry in November, said all her fiance needed to do was to push a button following the seasoning of the food.

“We also learned that the recipes could be reviewed when downloading a mobile app onto my smartphone, which was another aspect to consider for my purchase,” she said.

According to an LG official, recipes for about 150 different dishes are listed on the app for beginner cooks.

The company is also giving child nurturing lessons to three groups of purchasers ― mostly working moms ― of its robot vacuum Roboking.

Roboking, which features its own camera, can also be used to watch children inside the home when connected with a smartphone.

“With a group of 20-30 working moms, the speaker gives them tips on the know-how of raising children such as how to boost their confidence and give them motivation,” said an LG official.

LG’s rival Samsung Electronics, on the other hand, is applying the color pink ― often referred to as women’s favorite color ― to a number of its electronic gadgets.

Most recently, the company said it will roll out a pink 5.3-inch Galaxy Note that also comes with a pink S-pen.

The firm also went forward with a joint marketing campaign with Lovcat, well-known for its feminine wallets and bags, for three months from January to March, giving out camera pouches with the purchase of its pink mirror pop cameras.

“As part of the effort, more than 100,000 units of the mirror pop cameras were sold within the first six months of sales and the pink mirror pop models took up to half of the items sold,” said a Samsung official.

Pink, however, was not the only hot-selling color for the country’s top IT firm.

For its SENS X180 laptop, it showcased an all-white model with a Barbie Fashion Model Collection design by Barbie chief designer Robert Best.

The laptop was the second Barbie version since releasing the SENS X170 Barbie Special Edition last May.

Another home appliance maker, Daewoo Electronics, unveiled a mini drum washing machine that can cling onto the wall at a press conference in downtown Seoul last week.

With the ability to wash 3 kilograms worth of clothes, its executives said its proprietary technologies were invented to reduce noise.

According to Daewoo Electronics officials, the mini washer is designed to get the stains off of baby clothes as well as underwear, which both need frequent washing.

“We wanted to introduce new and innovative products into the market that would form a new trend in the home appliance industry,” said its chief executive Lee Sung.

The company also featured the new 2012 Klasse side-by-side door refrigerator which has an independent sealed space to contain cosmetic products along with medicines.

“A large number of women store their cosmetic goods inside refrigerators to use them longer, but they often were mixed with the smell of food in the previous models,” said a Daewoo official. “We further plan to reflect the needs of women in the design and functions of our future home appliance models with an emphasis on boosting their convenience to go for a rise in sales.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)