Femina releases second edition of its research report under the series ‘All About Women’, decodes urban homemakers of India

National: Femina, India’s leading women’s brand, has thrived as the destination for all things women for over six decades bringing a range of relevant videos, features, and stories bringing unique insights on beauty, fashion, travel, relationships, food, health, and fitness. Taking a leap forward and funneling some of the crucial insights in the various aspects of a woman’s life, Femina earlier this year launched a research report series called ‘All About Women’. While the first edition explored the lives of millennial working mothers, the second edition will shed some light on the lives of Urban Indian homemakers. Regarded as one of the biggest and most important audience sub-segments in India; today, urban homemakers are confident, unapologetic, and active decision makers, who have deeper inspirations and higher aspirations. The research report commissioned by Femina to Karvy Insights, offers an in-depth analysis and provides a comprehensive understanding of the lives of Urban homemakers, by capturing their life, self-perception, relationship with family, changing lifestyle owing to COVID-19, future aspirations and dissecting the consumer behavior.

The research study’s findings are a result of extensive quantitative and qualitative research done over months with more than 1200 urban homemakers and 250 husbands across 8 metros and non-metros that include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Ahmedabad. The subjects belong to joint and nuclear families and are of the age group of 22 to 45 years, NCCS A and 70% of the homemakers were graduates/ postgraduates.

Elaborating on the second edition of Femina’ s All About Women Report, Mr. Deepak Lamba, CEO of Worldwide Media said, “The pandemic of 2020 has brought the entire world to an uncertain halt, affecting businesses, families, and individuals at large. And, at the center of this all-encompassing crisis have been the homemakers, trying their best to balance their professional, personal, and familial responsibilities. The second edition of Femina’s All About Women report is an effort to recognize the unaccounted contribution, relevance, and importance of Urban Homemakers. It defines their transformed approach towards their lifestyle, financial aspirations, professional development, family equations, and personal choices. Our endeavor is to decode the shift, predict their behavior, and provide a comprehensive overview of the evolved Indian Urban homemaker. We hope that our advertiser partners can gain some relevant insights from our latest proprietary research that can help them connect more meaningfully with the urban Indian woman.”

Further commenting on the report, Ruchika Mehta, Editor at Femina said, “Urban homemakers are the backbone of any family and are constantly undervalued for all their hard work and dedication. With this report we want to initiate a conversation that builds an understanding of who they are, their preferences, and their lifestyle. It captures their unstated emotions, aspirations and creates a bridge between them and the brands that seek to serve them. ”   

Understanding the Urban Indian Homemaker

Modern-day homemakers see themselves as pro-home-managers who are as sincere and hardworking as corporate women and not just traditional housewives.

They are tech savvy ninjas who are the foundation of their households and have managed to keep the happiness index at home high despite the challenges.

•  80% of the respondents see themselves as superwomen who do endless amounts of thankless work at home
• 70% of the respondents feel unvalued and think more respect is ascribed to monetary income
• 80% idolises their mother and seek inspiration from Bollywood celebrities and celebrity chefs
• Most urban Indian women aspire to have a stable financial future and academic excellence of their children
• 70% see money as a means to enhance their lifestyle
• 70% see money as a means to enhance their lifestyle

World of a Homemaker and impact of COVID-19

The pandemic of 2020 altered the lifestyle of all families across the country. Staying inside the home continuously for months, saw homemakers consider cooking and kitchen responsibilities as the most stressful tasks, especially without the help of other family members.

Consumption of content on OTT and social media apps have seen the highest increase. Homemakers in metros depend more on packaged items like immunity boosting powders, whereas these in non-metros prefer natural home remedies. While lockdown has impacted both physical and mental health, the impact is more pronounced on mental health. That said, the challenges have also helped in strengthening the bonds with spouses.

•  39% Non-Metro city homemakers see cooking duties as the most stressful
• 41% metro city homemakers see non-cooking kitchen duties as the most stressful
• 33% of husbands weren’t even aware of cooking and kitchen duties are stressful for their partners
• New things explored during the lockdown – 51% experimenting with Food and 41% started watching online video
• 60% Homemakers in metros chose packaged immunity boosters
• 50% Homemakers from non-metros preferred natural immunity boosters
• 38% of homemakers felt that their mental health has been affect
• 72% of the homemakers said their relationship with their partner has improved in the lockdown

Understanding her as a consumer & her aspirations of formal employment

The tech savvy homemaker likes shopping online, appreciates sales & discounts, is brand conscious. Non-Metro homemakers too have adopted ecommerce for essentials but miss the personalization of offline shopping.

Social Media Trends & E-Commerce Boom has made her more familiar and accessible to brands.

More Than a Third of The Homemakers Aspire to get into formal employment. Marital responsibilities impede professional career however, majority of men want women to be financially independent. 64% Homemakers quit their job just before or just after marriage.

Investments

70% homemakers stay well informed on money matters, but seek the insights of their spouse & friends to validate their investment decisions. They prefer ‘Safer’ Financial Products such as Gold, Bank Deposits, Life Insurance.

Femina’s November issue will further elaborate these insights and findings and corroborate them with content tailored to the Urban homemaker. This issue will also shed light on Femina’s focused content strategy to cater to what women need and the in-depth understanding of it.