According to a report from Bloomberg, retail giant Walmart will start selling products marked with a label that indicates a company is owned by a woman this September. The huge company is honoring a pledge made in 2011 that stated they would source $20 billion to start carrying products from women-owned U.S. businesses by 2016. Walmart will begin by selling a lingerie brand named Smart & Sexy and Maggie’s Salsa—both businesses owned by women in the United States.
Like kosher, gluten-free or organically certified labels, the company asserts that a women-owned business label will attract buyers who aim to express and exercise their values through buying decisions.
People purchase things based on the value it reflects. For example, one might buy a certain brand of chicken because its label indicates the chicken was farm-raised, which reflects his or her inclinations toward the environment and toward organic, healthier food. Similarly, a women-owned business label might attract consumers on the premise that the product would reflect their inclinations toward women’s equality.
“People are looking for reasons to feel good about the company they’re buying from,” said Pamela Prince-Eason, chief executive of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. She asserts that this stamp of approval will encourage that, according to Bloomberg Business Week. Referring to research from Walmart, which concluded that 90 percent of female buyers would be drawn to products by women-owned businesses, she said, “I think there’s a very strong business case for having the logo on a product.”
Photo: via flickr/Mike Mozart
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