As a firm that focuses on market research, polls, and surveys among others, we hope to bring you insight into this week’s article, which looks at the pink tax phenomenon.
Pink Tax, also known as gender-based pricing, is not literally a ‘tax’ but refers to the tendency of female products being priced higher than those for men. The price disparities are mostly common in lifestyle and personal care products which are categorised as luxuries such as lotions, razor blades, sanitary ware, and deodorants among others.
According to The World Bank, a woman spends more than a man throughout their lifetime, especially on lifestyle products even though women generally earn less than men. The ‘tax’ therefore imposes an immense economic burden on women – especially when the gender wage gap continues to exist. In America, over 700 products showed a price disparity including toys and accessories where those for girls were priced 7% higher than for boys.
Statistical data on pink tax in Africa, let alone in Botswana, is very limited. A study in the US revealed that razors that were targeted at female consumers costed 9% more than for men, and body lotion was about 1% more expensive. In South Africa, it was observed that 50ml of Nivea Men’s Active Age moisturizer which reduces wrinkles and firms skin costs R11 less than 50ml of Nivea’s Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream for women.
Why is this important? Pink tax leaves women with less money for more important things like investments, insurance and retirement. Knowledge of this has led some insurance companies in South Africa to develop insurance products that are 30% cheaper for women than men. The question is how does pink tax affect your own business and what will you do about it?
We hope that this article was insightful and that it demonstrated to some extent the importance of market research or data in business decision-making. If you need to get insights on your own market niche, we are just a call away.
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