Trends Forecasting Research Document TRENDS FINAL HAND IN FINISH | Page 13

Women Increasing Company Sales Figure 11 Lydia Holland Trend Forecasting Research Document ocument 13 The most recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found that 126 million women are starting or running their own business and 98 million have been operating well-established businesses for over three and a half years. (Saxena, 2016) Research has suggested that firms owned by women perform better than those owned by men, this could be because women entrepreneurs tend to come off better because of their status in community (Saxena, 2016). The modern day trend and current research show that women will encourage entrepreneurial growth in the future. In February 2016 a study of 35,000 companies found that average revenues of women-owned businesses increased by 12% in a year-to-year comparison (Bose, 2016). Puma has recently seen their sales improve and this has been due to their female ambassadors. Bjørn Gulden, chief Executive Officer of Puma pointed out that the brand has become increasingly successful with its prosperous trifecta of female ambassadors such as Rihanna, Kylie Jenner and Cara Delevingne. With the success of Rihanna’s ready to wear line and footwear styles, Puma chose to put their focus and money into women, therefor taking on Kylie Jenner, who appeals to a younger generation and has a huge following on social media (Bobila, 2016), and Cara Delevingne, for the “Do you” Campaign. The “Do you” Campaign aims to inspire women everywhere to be confident in themselves (Bannigan, 2016). This all demonstrates how strong women are really being, in standing up for themselves. The fact that women owned businesses perform better than men-owned businesses really does prove to people who don’t believe in women, such as Trump, that they can be incredible business women a long with being mothers and wives. Puma illustrates how strong women can be as role models and that using them in advertisement really does appeal to everyone, the evidence of this is their increasing sales. The “Do you” campaign is to teach women everywhere that it is all about loving yourself and being proud and confident in the body you’re in, its about self-respect and self- importance. Figure 12