Becoming a mum puts women in the driving set

New research released today by BabyCentre, the world’s number one pregnancy and parenting website, has found that over two-thirds of women (68%) change their purchase criteria for everything they buy once they become a mum and seven out of 10 women said this new approach to purchasing also influences what kind of cars they buy.

BabyCentre’s Mummy Shopper Report, which polled 1,000 women before and after they had a child reveals that expecting a baby is a key trigger for car purchases with over two-thirds (67%) of new mums saying they would buy a car to accommodate their expanding family.

And when it comes to choosing the make and model, motherhood puts women firmly in the driving seat as mums make the ultimate decision in over half of all car purchases. Design and style – which is the third most considered factor for women without children – falls out of the top five once baby arrives, with reliability and safety ratings becoming the top priorities.

A car’s seating and cargo capabilities are also key influencers, cited by 83% of mothers as an important purchase criteria compared to less than a third of women without children. An expanding brood impacts on the type of models that mums favour – the popularity of People Carriers and MPVs increase exponentially amongst women with children (up 625% and 433% respectively) – whilst Coupes (-83%) and 3-Door Hatchbacks (-82%) become less desirable.

Mike Fogarty, SVP Global Publisher of BabyCentre suggests car companies wake up to the marketing opportunities that motherhood presents:

“With over two-thirds of women revaluating what car they drive once they’re expecting and being key decision makers in the purchase of the family car, advertisers are missing a trick by not targeting expectant women and new mums to communicate with them about how the models they offer can meet their changing needs.”

The importance of each purchase criteria when car shopping: