Sara Kurray, a 25-year-old human resources executive who works for a top IT firm based in the country's southern brain city of Bangalore, is certainly not obsessive about hygiene. Yet, according to her one of the best features of her handbag that's large enough to fit a Chihuahua (or any other ordinary everyday accessory) is a bottle of hand sanitiser suspended from the bag's shoulder strap. The tiny container of liquid that kills 99.9% of most common illness causing germs sits in a pouch that's hooked on the bag. The pouch is a creation of the same brand that manufactures the sanitiser with skin softening and moisturising properties too. Perhaps not entirely pleasing to the eye and the authorities at the Ministry of Fashion may scoff at the mere idea of 100% functionality and 0% style, but Kurray does not care. She's just glad her life's a tad easier. "This way I don't have to go hunting in my bag every time I need to sanitise my hands," she'll tell you.
Voila, clean hands! Indeed this isn't the first time we've seen conveniently placed on-the-go essentials. Water bottles dangling off bags or nestling in one of the side-pockets to avoid spillage and water marks left by condensation inside a
handbags, are a common sight especially among the college population. Mirrors on inside flaps, is another example of an appropriately situated everyday and absolutely indispensable item in a woman's purse. Sure, Sara's handbag features are hardly revolutionary. But they reveal two hidden and particularly revelatory truths that might have far-reaching implications on how we perceive the world in general. First - women are not as organised as men presume they are. And second, in a woman's handbag does not rest her purse-onality alone. The global luxury handbag and accessories market may be worth $24 billion according to industry reports. But inside a woman's handbag is a whole new market waiting to be tapped. Unmet needs waiting to be met, a billion dollar market just waiting.
In order to help Indian marketers understand and identify the opportunities and capture a share of the "female economy" , advertising agency Draftfcb + Ulka analysed the contents of a woman's handbag and pieced together an intriguing consumer story. According to Vidyadhar Wabgaonkar, head, strategic planning, Draftfcb + Ulka, "The inside story of a
woman's handbag has many informative leads for all marketers to sharpen their future product mix and keenly notice the emerging needs of the woman of today in the areas of beauty essentials, entertainment gadgets, emergency essentials and snack items. They also constantly feel the need for smaller and transit proof packs that are 'travel friendly' . This need is currently not addressed by most marketers." For instance most women refrain from carrying face wash due to a fear of leakage as caps break easily.
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