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Dear Santa: All I want for Christmas is equal product pricing across genders

From razors and clothing to toys and adult diapers, women are likely always paying more for a product than men.

It's more than likely the female in this photo paid more for her clothes even if her beau is wearing the same style and brand garments.

December 24, 2015 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

Dear Santa (and yes Mrs. Claus, too),

First off, I’ve been much less naughty and a heck of a lot nicer this year, and my list isn’t very long. In fact, there are only two items on it.

One features four wheels, reliable GPS and can survive a six-hour road trip to see my middle child during bad weather and hopefully it comes in cherry red. But I’ll write separately and more privately on that wish list item.

My second wish list request is actually more important as it also involves money flowing out of my pocket but is a gift that will be welcome by every woman on earth. It's one that will keep giving, especially for retailers.

Why? Well in my experience, the more money women save the more likely they spend. (Mrs. Claus can likely help further enlighten you on that particular female reasoning.)

But let’s not digress as I know you’re on deadline with gift wrapping and checking reindeer hooves and health, but luckily this gift doesn’t demand any elf involvement or scotch tape.

The very special gift you need to deliver is equal product pricing for genders.

As a newly released report from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) reveals, it seems we women are paying more for pretty much every product compared to what men are paying — from deodorant to clothes to toys and even home health-care products.

And even when the price is near equal, the product provided often gives men more.

Get this: While a packet of adult diapers will cost men and women pretty much the same, $11.99, the ‘male’ package comes with 52 diapers while the women’s comes with 30.

That’s not very jolly news for the 4 million-plus females in New York City — which make up 52 percent of the 8.4 million resident population. The only demographic that likely beats us out is the rodent or possibly the roach community.

The report stated that in all but five of the 35 retail product (800 products total) analyzed, products for female consumers were priced higher than those for male consumers.

The products reviewed in the pricing study involved 90 brands sold at two dozen New York City retailers, both online and in brick-and-mortar.

Overall the consumer report revealed women’s products cost 7 percent more than similar products for men. Specifically:

• 7 percent more for toys and accessories
• 4 percent more for children’s clothing
• 8 percent more for adult clothing
• 13 percent more for personal care products
• 8 percent more for senior/home health care products

Here are some more findings:

• Girls’ toys cost more 55 percent of the time, while boys’ toys cost more 8 percent of the time.
• Girls’ clothing cost more 26 percent of the time, while boys’ clothing cost more 7 percent of the time.
• Women’s clothing cost more 40 percent of the time, while men’s clothing cost more 32 percent of the time.
• Women’s personal care products cost more 56 percent of the time, while men’s products cost more 13 percent of the time.
• Senior home health-care products cost more for women 45 percent of the time and cost more for men 13 percent of the time.

Over the course of my life, the pricing difference will add up. In 1994, California officials studied the issue of gender-based pricing of services and estimated that women effectively paid an annual "gender tax" of approximately $1,351 for the same services as men, noted the consumer report. And $1,300 is no chump change given women outlive men and are living well into their 80s on average — 86.6 years of age to be exact, according to the U.S. government.

That's one reason why the DCA is encouraging consumers to join its social media campaign to address this issue by tweeting examples of unfair gender pricing using the hashtag #genderpricing.

I’m thinking if Santa got involved this could be solved even quicker, though the power of social media is pretty amazing these days. But not as powerful as Rudolph's nose.

So I’ll be tweeting out my letter to you regarding my wish, complete with #genderpricing, #santa, #santaalert, #dearsanta and, of course, #santaclaus, just to make sure your social media maven gets this letter to you.

On behalf of all of us at Retail Customer Experience, I wish all our readers, retailers, industry gurus and consultants and everyone immersed in the retail experience a wonderful holiday time and a very healthy, happy and successful New Year.

About Judy Mottl

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Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.

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