Panasonic Australia's Tanya Mudge said females are making consumer electronics purchasing decisions in their own right.

After conducting some research, Panasonic has identified a growing demand by women for all consumer electronics segments. "Female consumers are making purchasing decisions in their own right", Panasonic Australia Lumix product manager, Tanya Mudge told www.connectedwomen.net.au.

"This is becoming a trend across all consumer electronics products. We've done research and watched trends…we understand the female role in the purchase decision."

The company has responded in a number of ways, including through its promotional activities. "We have been targeting females with marketing activities such as the Sex and the City promotion and the iA (Intelligent Auto camera feature) commercial which featured two females,” she said.

Panasonic's category marketing manager for mobile AV, Alistair Robins, said a lot of sales are being driven by 'gifting' for females, i.e. father's buying for daughters and husbands buying for wives. “With prices coming down, gifting for females last Christmas was a large part of the market."

Another way Panasonic has tried to reach the female customer is through colour.
 

The Panasonic Lumix FS7 series, available in March, is poised to be a winner with females.

Mudge predicts the strongest range for females would be the FS series of Lumix cameras, which combine style with ease of use. Again the range includes the company's popular Intelligent Auto (iA) mode, which selects correct settings and detects facial expression. The series comes in sleek black and the DMC-FS7 comes in bright pink, as well as silver and black. "The vibrant pink will be a top seller…it is stylish and compact," she added.

"Colours have an important role …We are studying colours a lot and discussing the feasibility of expanding on colours with our retailers." Mudge said.