Shopping Habits are First to Change for New Moms

BUFFALO, N.Y., Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Every day, 4,400 women in the United States discover that they're going to become a mom for the first time. As a woman nears motherhood and becomes a mom, her approach to shopping changes significantly. She spends more time planning before she buys, and places more importance on safety, durability and brand reputation.

These are just a few insights found by top-ranking, integrated marketing communications agency Eric Mower and Associates. Conducted on behalf of EMA's New Moms Group, Harris Interactive administered a national online study of 1,116 moms, ages 18 to 45 years. Participants included New Moms (first-time moms with one child, age two or younger) and Experienced Moms (moms with multiple children and/or a child older than two). Research unveiled how women think, feel and change as shoppers once they become first-time moms.

Results of the survey also included:  

• New Moms in particular said they have less time (30 percent New Moms vs. 20 percent Experienced Moms) and need to be more efficient while shopping.
• New Moms spend a great deal of time researching cars (55.7 percent), baby gear (38.4 percent), electronics (35.8 percent), appliances (31.4 percent) and furniture (19.0 percent).
• Thirty-five (35) percent of New Moms use their smart phones while shopping, primarily to seek someone's opinion, or access product and price comparisons.

"The study provides a rich source of new data about moms," said Sandy Gingerich, senior partner and leader of EMA's New Moms group. "More importantly, it fueled our development of insights into the way new moms feel, think and behave as they consider and purchase a variety of products."

Based on the consumer insights found in the survey, EMA's New Moms group lent their expertise to brand representatives from major product and service categories at the 7th annual M2Moms® –The Marketing to Moms Conference in Chicago, IL. While there, the team held a workshop titled, "Talk Human: Building Affection, Relevance and Trust with New Moms."

EMA's New Moms team includes experts in Insight + Analytics, Shopper Marketing, Creative Ideation, Design + Branding, Public Relations, Social Media and Planning. Its client roster includes respected brands like Dixie®, Fisher-Price, Primrose Schools and more.

"Our team has uncovered how motherhood shapes a woman's opinions and behaviors toward shopping, saving money, brand and product selection, media use, health, fashion and more," said EMA Partner and member of the New Moms group Virginia Bates. "For brand marketers, this represents a once-in-her-lifetime opportunity to build a customer relationship that will grow from the time her baby is born until he or she walks across the stage at graduation."

For more on how your brand can connect with new moms visit: http://www.mower.com/microsites/new-moms/about-us/.

About Sandy Gingerich, EMA Senior Partner, Director of Client Services

Sandy is a senior partner and director of Eric Mower and Associates' New Moms—marketing to new moms—group. Sandy provides strategic advice and research-based insights to clients, helping them better connect with the ever-growing Millennial mom market. Sandy is a true shopper marketing strategist, and has developed best practices for reaching moms in-store through her work with top brands at retailers like Walmart, Target, Kmart and Toys R Us. In her distinguished 20-year career at EMA, an integrated marketing communications agency with specialized expertise in shopper marketing, consumer advertising, and digital/direct/relationship marketing, Sandy has served dozens of blue-chip brands including Fisher-Price, Mattel, MeadWestvaco, Kohler, BlueCross BlueShield, HSBC Bank USA and Lactalis Deli. She's recently kicked off a nationwide tour, sharing the results of her group's in-depth study of the Millennial mom. Sandy also gets first-hand insight into consumers, brands and the challenges that retailers face from behind the counter at the Marilla Country Store, a unique gift shop she owns with her husband, Paul.

About Virginia Bates, EMA Partner, Director of Promotion Planning

In the study of NewMomology—the art and science surrounding the seismic changes that take place in a woman's life as she becomes a mother—Virginia is focused on turning insights into action. While advertising and public relations help to influence moms' beliefs about a brand, Virginia and the EMA sales promotion team work to change how they behave. They accomplish this by developing offers, incentives and shopper marketing programs that encourage mom to engage with a brand, visit a retail store, take part in an event, download a coupon, or try a new product. For more than 10 years, Virginia has been developing award-winning sales promotions on behalf of EMA clients, including Fisher-Price, Transitions, Welch's and Kodak. She also understands new-mom thinking firsthand, as she's progressed from being a novice mom to a working mom, scrapbooking mom and even stage mom as her son, James, makes his way through school.

About Eric Mower and Associates

EMA is an integrated marketing communications agency with specialized expertise in business-to-business marketing, public relations and public affairs, consumer advertising, brand promotion and digital/direct/relationship marketing. With offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Atlanta, Ga., EMA serves clients throughout the United States. EMA also serves many of its clients through thenetworkone, the world's largest independent network of advertising, creative, digital, media and marketing agencies covering 65 countries. EMA belongs to the American Association of Advertising Agencies and IPREX, a worldwide partnership of independent public relations firms. EMA has 215 professionals and estimated 2011 capitalized billings of $210 million. Visit www.mower.com for more information.

SOURCE Eric Mower and Associates