The acronym WAF has slowly crept into our lexicon. WAF stands for Wife Acceptance Factor. It is usually used in relation with a high-tech piece of electronics and in particular in when buying a home entertainment centeror designing a home entertainment setup. More and more marketing experts are looking to the critical WAF (wife acceptance factor) of their products. Studies repeatedly show that women make the final decision on purchases some studies say as high as 74% - on what make or model a family will buy- or if they will buy at all. In North America electronics stores are taking the wife acceptance factor seriously. Men used to develop strategies to cajole or beg their wives to let them have them buy a big screen TV. Now with the women friendly designs of new televisions that has become a thing of the past. Sleek LCD televisions are so thin and so light that they take up as much room as a picture hanging on the wall. Ten years ago there would be no chance of a 60 television coming into the family room or home entertainment center. of yesterdays big screen rear projection televisions with a better a clearer picture too boot The sheer bulk of it- taking up huge amounts of space - gave it a next to zero WAF. Todays new DLP televisions take up a third of the space of yesterdays big screen TVs. In fact, there has been a surprising trend in the sale of televisions. Although the advent of high definition television and the better picture and sound quality of LCD televisions and plasma screens play a huge role in the increase of televisions sales, industry insiders report that another element has been the Wife Acceptance Factor. Women are now coming in to electronic stores to replace their existing televisions sets- they want to get rid of the bulk and want the lighter sleeker design newer thin televisions provide. The best news for manufactures is that women are not only replacing the televisions for their home entertainment center- but actually buying more- putting TVs in places they never allowed before. Small LCD screens in kitchens, bedrooms and the home office. Although at first referring to the visual of something- too big or too ugly, WAF can now mean too anything; too expensive or too frivolous or too hard to use. It has seeped into most segments of the marketing world. You will hear the WAF used by new car salesmen and furniture- but never more than on the floor of an electronics store when looking to buy a new stereo system or home entertainment center. So popular is the term- and so powerful a factor in mens buying patterns that mens forums are bursting with WAF threads and discussions. Look at any forum geared to mens toys and you will see thread after thread of discussions on the WAF of motorcycles, new stereo receivers, and home theater setups. Wife Acceptance Factor is actually changing the design and nature of our consumer goods. In the last 10 years the demand for sleekly designed invisible electronics has gone through the roof . New homes have recessed speakers in ceilings and walls. Home entertainment centers and built-ins are designed to be hidden away by sliding doors and cleverly designed armoires. Backyards feature rock garden speakers and easy to use one-touch remote controls for a typical home theater setup can now cost almost as much as a new television. All in the name of making the spouse happy. Because of the buying power of women and the WAF (wife acceptance factor) effect on the men in their lives, the electronics industry has responded to the demand for not only function but form as well. News homes are built to hide wires and cabling. Speakers are hidden into walls, home theater centers can be hidden away with the touch of a button. Because the electronics industry has recognized WAF as a deterring factor in mens buying patterns- they have are experiencing a huge boost in sales. |
