Lady Geek

Belinda Parmar

Women want brands that offer certainty and trust. Tesco have levels of trust reaching 70%, higher than any financial institution. Previously I talked about how women are reassurance addicts when it comes to technology- they will rely heavily on the sales staff or "phone a friend" before they buy technology.

Tesco entering the IT support market is a  smart move.Positioning it as a female friendly service is an every smarter strategy. My research highlighted women often feel dumb walking into Dixons or PC World. It's hard to ask a spotty teenager what "RAM" means. As one women said to me when I asked her first impression of Dixons: "There was a strong scent of man"

But give women a female friendly environment where they feel they can ask silly questions and they will buy. Not only will they buy but they will buy along with their eggs, meat and the rest of the shopping. Hence tech shopping stops being a painful diversion and becomes a less-scary add-on to the shopping list. The no commission business model will also stand Tesco in good stead as so many women talk without feeling under pressure to buy.

My advice to Tesco would be to extend this service to compete with the Geek Squad and offer women help installing and servicing their consumer electronics in their home.

1) Demystifying technology.

2) Going to women's environments rather than asking them to come to yours.

3) Using women to recruit other women.

4) No commission based business model.

With a strategy like this, who ever needs to smell the scent of man in Dixons again?