Coupons

I'm not sure if you heard of this news story. A recent study found that women are more likely to buy sexy clothing when we are ovulating. I'm not sure how most people react when reading stories about weird studies like these, but I'm a researcher, so I wonder who funds this research? I mean, here I am doing work on important public policy related areas and searching for money to support it, and then someone comes along and funds a study about when women buy sexy clothing?

As it turns out, market researchers are funding this. They just want to figure out how to get women to buy more clothes and think they found an answer through our cycles. The study author concludes: "Our findings suggest marketers for many types of female products are well served to strategically time their mailings, coupons, electronic solicitations, and direct requests to the specific window when women are ovulating."

So now I have to ask, how will they know their customers are ovulating? Most women don't even know when they are ovulating, and those that pay attention are not going to broadcast it to stores. And I guess women who don't ovulate just have to pay more? The idea that marketers are going to start timing coupons to our cycles just makes me laugh. Although if Ann Tay1or struck a deal with my clinic to give out coupons good on the day we trigger, I would take it.