Despite Decades of Gains in the Workforce, Women Still the Predominant Household Shoppers

Despite Decades of Gains in the Workforce, Women Still the Predominant
Household Shoppers
--Responsible for Purchasing Food and Other Household Products--

NEW YORK , Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Even though women will soon outnumber men
in the workplace, they are still largely responsible for purchasing food and
other items used by the entire household, according to data from Mediamark
Research & Intelligence (MRI).

For instance, in 1989, 85.5% of principal household shoppers were female. By
the spring of 2009, that figure had dropped to 75.1%, according to
MRI--meaning women are still the predominant purchasers of food (including
food for pets), household items and baby/children's products.

According to a recent TIME magazine cover story, women are expected to
outnumber men in the workplace by the end of 2009, partly due to the economic
downturn. In addition, almost 40% of the primary breadwinners in households
are women, according to TIME.

"Although in a financial sense, women as breadwinners are far more commonplace
than they were two decades ago, they're clearly still responsible for bringing
home the edible bread and everything that goes on it," said Anne Marie Kelly,
SVP, Marketing and Strategic Planning, at MRI. "Think of anything in the
typical kitchen or pantry and, chances are, it was brought home by the lady of
the house."

PERCENTAGE OF FEMALES AS PRIMARY SHOPPER 2009 1989
% %
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS 75.1 85.5
BABY/CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS 78.4 88.8
FOOD PRODUCTS 75.1 85.5
NON-FOOD PRODUCTS 75.1 85.6
PET FOOD & PRODUCTS 78.0 88.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: Mediamark Research & Intelligence Spring 1989 and 2009
Survey of the American Consumer

While the Internet has revolutionized many aspects of consumers' lives,
grocery shopping is still done the old-fashioned way. According to MRI data,
less than 1% of U.S. households shop for groceries online.

About MRI:

Founded in 1979, MRI interviews approximately 26,000 U.S. adults in their
homes each year, asking about their use of media, their consumption of
products and their lifestyles and attitudes. Because these interviews are
structured as an area probability study, the results are projectable to the
entire U.S. adult population.

MRI is the country's leading provider of magazine audience and multimedia
research data. The company releases data from its Survey of the American
Consumer (adults 18+) twice yearly, in the spring and fall. MRI data have
become the basic media-planning currency for the majority of the media plans
that are created each year by national advertisers and their agencies.

MRI Starch, a leader in providing marketing intelligence of print advertising
effectiveness, is a division of MRI.

MRI is part of GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany. The GfK Group is the No. 4
market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three
business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The
Group has 115 companies covering more than 100 countries. Of a total of
approximately 10,000 employees, more than 80% are based outside Germany.

For more information, please visit http://www.mediamark.com

SOURCE Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI)

Anne Marie Kelly, SVP, Marketing and Strategic Planning, MRI, +1-212-884-9204,
annemarie.kelly@mediamark.com; or Steve Ellwanger, Press Counsel Group,
+1-203-856-8303, steve@presscounselonline.com