Women gadget users 'patronised' in pink

Gadget retailers and manufacturers are missing out on £600m a year because they fail to connect with the female market.

One in three female Internet users polled by advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi said they would increase their spending on consumer electronics if retailers thought harder about how they approach them and offered more guidance in stores and on e-commerce sites.

Almost one in three of the 750 female Internet users surveyed do not consider technology advertising relevant to them and the majority of women feel disillusioned that brand owners and retailers don't understand what they care about and don't view them as a relevant group of customers.

One third of women do not feel confident enough to ask questions in stores, with one respondent describing electronics retailers as reeking of a "strong scent of man".

Saatchi & Saatchi planning director Belinda Parmar said: "This group of women told us loud and clear that they do not want diamante-encrusted mobile phones and baby-pink DAB radios."

Only nine per cent of respondents thought it was important that their gadgets look feminine -- and others said they felt 'patronised' and 'offended' by the abundance of pink products available at the expense of the sleek products they want to see.