Gay Factor

Thursday November 27, 2008

LONDON LOG WITH CHOI TUCK WO

Britain is now tapping into the growing gay market.

WHILE the issue of tomboys and lesbians hogged the media limelight in Malaysia recently, the subject came up for debate in Britain, too.

The estimated three million gays and lesbians in Britain are being vigorously “courted” by various quarters – from High Street shops and Internet retailers to music stores and honeymoon tour operators.

With London being home to the largest gay and lesbian com-munity in Europe, there is a gro-wing awareness of the potential of this huge and lucrative market.

The latest report on gay consumers spending a whopping £23bil with their credit cards last year must have been an eye-opener for many retailers.

Even gay and lesbian honeymoons account for almost £50mil each year.

Admittedly, the number of gay weddings had dropped by nearly half to about 8,700 last year. But it doesn’t signal that the honeymoon is over for such marriages.

Obviously, the boom in 2005 was to be expected. When you have a backlog of people wanting to tie the knot, there will inevitably be a rush when they are allowed to do so.

Thus the decline may not be too surprising. If anything, the fall simply reflects a levelling out to a more normal rate.

There could also have been cases in which some gays had pulled out at the last minute, as they were not psychologically prepared to walk to the altar yet.

Amid the debate over the spending power of the gay community, the question is whether the marketing industry has done enough to capitalise on this largely untapped market.

Say what you like, but the industry needs to develop more new products, new targeted campaigns and more training for their workers to cater for gays and lesbians.

So far, the “one-size-fits-all” marketing promotions seem to be targeting the general population – the fashion-conscious, music lovers, food connoisseurs and even children.

Well, just about everyone, except the gay and lesbian consumers. For the most part, they are left pretty much to themselves to pick out what they want.

Then again, there’s nothing really wrong in buying the things you want based on your needs, instead of being influenced by advertising campaigns.

And during the financial squeeze, there’s even more reason to be prudent in one’s spending.

So while shopping for Christmas is inevitable, the tendency to overspend must be curbed, irrespective of the irresistible promotions and festive offers.

After all, it’s always wise to save for a rainy day. The economic slowdown affects everyone, whether gay or not.