Sony targets the Alpha female

Special Feature: The Female market

When it comes to marketing to women, Sony is mainly concerned with the characteristics of a consumer more so than their gender.

"We don't really measure our target market in terms of male or female," said Sony senior product specialist - digital imaging, Nick Villani. "For us, it's more important to focus on audience segmentation and characteristics such as 'innovative' and 'enthusiast'.

Villani told Photo & Imaging News that the female market is still an important consideration for several Sony imaging products, particularly photo frames, digital compact cameras and the Alpha range of digital SLRs.

"The entry level Alphas are aimed at women more so than men," he said. "They appeal to women who are looking to move up from a compact camera to DSLR that doesn't require a lot of guesswork."

Other products in the Sony stable that have high 'female appeal' include the Swarovski photo frame and slim-line Cyber-shot compacts in various colours.

Sony last year introduced the Party-shot camera mount, aimed at the younger crowd who liked to share photos via social networking sites.

Villani said Mothers' Day traditionally resulted in a spike in sales of photo frames.