Did you know that women drive up to 70-80 percent U.S. consumer spending?

Did you know that women drive up to 70-80 percent U.S. consumer spending?

Imagine if any other well-defined group controlled over 35 trillion dollars in purchasing power in the United States alone. Investors wouldn’t be able to leave it alone. We’ve seen billions of venture capital be poured into companies going after much smaller markets, like gamers or cannabis users, yet remarkably only 4 percent of venture capital goes towards female-owned businesses who have far better insights into this market.

The reality is that women are neglected as both an outsized consumer and entrepreneurial base. And this group contains another emerging spending power that’s underserved by current markets: minority women. Minorities make up over 42% of women in the United States, but their buying power has increased far more rapidly than their white counterparts over the course of the last decade; 48% for blacks, 70% for Latinx and nearly 90% for Asian women, versus 38% for whites. Anyone paying attention to the signs will know that successful ecommerce companies of the future will be catering more thoroughly to not only women, but minority women.

Few entrepreneurs are better suited to seize this opportunity and cater to these markets then — you guessed it — minority women. There’s already an abundance of high-profile entrepreneurs and influencers who have broken ground in this space — people like Jessica Alba, whose $200M net worth is grounded not only in her acting career but her natural cosmetics brand, The Honest Company. From Oprah to Beyonce, Serena Williams to Simon Biles, there are countless superstar examples of minority women who shattered barriers and leveraged their stardom not only to make an income but a difference, too.

The wonderful thing about the internet is that it instantly removes geographic barriers, one of the biggest challenges in overcoming systemic and economic boundaries. It allows you to find and consolidate a niche market that your immediate surroundings might not be able to support, and niche markets places where authenticity prevails.

Scrappy female entrepreneurs have no issues creating viral videos, building websites from scratch and creating engaging, genuine content that niche markets require.They already understand their audience in a profound way. The barrier to entry that’s still holding so many back is capital: you need thousands or have to find an affordable manufacturer or wholesaler so you can bootstrap yourself.

Take Micheila Eilz, a cosmetologist forced out of business last year by the pandemic. She understandably missed making her clientele feel and look great — and she also missed a stable income. “Not knowing where to start, I decided to do a simple Google search to see what vendor options for wholesale were available just to get an idea of what was out there. It was then when I landed on Supplied” — that’s us —  “and a few months later I revisited for some inspiration; I was so excited and placed an order immediately. That order would launch Eye of the Gemini.”

Micheila was better positioned than any male marketer to understand and serve a majority-women marketplace. “As a hair stylist and makeup artist for almost 12 years, I have spent my entire adult life building relationships with women.  It’s what I do, it’s what I’ve known.. since I was 19,” she laughs. At Supplied, over 92% of our customers are women — so while we’ve heard hundreds of unique stories, we know a pattern when we see one. 

Our sister company, The/Studio, takes a different angle to the affordability problem, but with much the same spirit. Just under half its customers are women, but nearly all of them are small-scale creators using the platform to gain access to affordable custom manufacturing of patches, pins, hats, socks and more that usually only big-label brands enjoy. 

We believe we’re part of a much bigger revolution in how venture capital-backed firms look at this hardworking, powerfully creative group of folks. All they need is more major businesses to believe in them and treat them like the essential creators they are. As Weekend Honey, one of Supplied’s early adopters, said about us: “You communicated through the entire shipping process and followed up after the order was delivered. It felt amazing to feel seen, even as such a small start up.”

We think that there’s going to be a boom of creative, female-owned brands like Eye of the Gemini Weekend Honey because more companies like us are “seeing” them for the first time. And with female-owned companies like StitchFix, Minted, Rent the Runway and more going public and gaining significant amounts of capital, the trend of investing in female entrepreneurs is here to stay. If our customers are any indication, there’ll be no shortage of creators to make bets on.

-Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller is the CEO & Founder of The/Studio Technologies, which operates TheStudio.com and SuppliedShop.com. Joseph founded The/Studio based on his experience of living in China and working in the consumer products manufacturing sector. The/Studio is a Silicon Valley venture backed startup that is focused on democratizing manufacturing and supply chain for SMBs. TheStudio.com makes it easy for companies to make custom manufactured products and SuppliedShop.com helps small retail stores buy inventory directly from factories.