Fender Introducing More Female-Artist Signature Models in 2020 Than Ever Before, CEO Says
“We’re pretty excited,” Andy Mooney commented.

Fender CEO Andy Mooney has confirmed to Guitar World that the company is planning to introduce more signature guitar models of female artists next year than ever before.
When asked how the company is reaching out to female players after its recent research indicated that half of all new guitar buyers are female, Mooney replied:

“That was a big ‘aha’ for us when we did the first research. 45% of the guitars we sell every year go to first-time players, and half of those first-time players were women. That was a shocker.
“But part of why I think we didn’t realize it and didn’t have visibility to it was: A) women were opting more often to buy an acoustic guitar than an electric guitar for the first guitar, and B) they were more likely to buy online than in a traditional store.
“And I think we’d all agree that guitar stores can be intimidating venues for any beginner player. And even more so, I think, for women because of lack of female sales associates.
“So that insight fundamentally changed what we did in artist relations. And then product development from the point of view of developing signature guitars: we’ll introduce more signature guitars for female artists next year than we’ve done in our entire 70-year history in a very broad range of genres and personalities. So we’re pretty excited.“

Source: Guitar World