“After the last few periods where U.S. consumers were showing some signs of going into the black in terms of positive trip growth, all outlet trips in the period ending late November showed the biggest decline we’ve seen in the last year and a half,” notes Todd Hale, Nielsen’s SVP of Consumer & Shopper Insights.

Professional women live in almost one-third (32.3%) of U.S. households.  In 2007 and 2008, these households represented 44.3% of sanitary product dollar sales, 43.6% of family planning product dollar sales, and 43.3% of cosmetic product dollar sales.

Other categories skewing to households with working women include ethnic health and beauty aids, baby needs, gum, and diet aids.

Nielsen’s Marketing Tip:
Retailers targeting households with working women may want to promote these categories (above) with feature ads, displays, and product assortments. Manufacturers should consider cross-promoting and cross-couponing items in these categories.

Nielsen’s Dollar Volume Index identifies demographic groups that account for above or below average dollar volume purchases for a given product category.

Data for the index was collected via Nielsen’s Homescan consumer panel, a nationally representative sample of U.S. households that provides a stratified, proportionate, non-biased representation of the U.S. population. Homescan panelists scan all of their UPC coded purchases after every shopping trip, allowing Nielsen to capture their complete shopping and buying behavior.