CHENNAI: Take a bow ladies, India’s scooter boom is driven by you. According to JD Power surveys, one in every four scooter buyer is a woman. And what’s more, an overwhelming majority of these women customers are young.In comparison, women motorcycle buyers are still negligible in number. The good news for two-wheeler makers is that a majority of all two-wheeler sales are by first-time buyers increasing the overall vehicle pool and offering upgrade options in future. “Women customers behave differently because their requirements are different. Also a majority of women scooter buyers are young. According to our surveys, 64% of women scooter buyers are 30 years old or below, while 53% of male scooter buyers are from this age group,” said Rajat Agarwal, two-wheeler industry expert, JD Power.In contrast, 14% of the women scooter buyers are in the 36-years and above category, though a sizeable 33% of male scooter buyers are from this age group. The substantial women customers in the scooter segment is also the reason why the purchase triggers for this product is very different from the more macho motorcycles.“The customer base for scooters and motorcycles behave differently because their needs are different and they purchase accordingly,” said Agarwal. “In the scooter segment, comfort is very important with 19% respondents saying it is the No 1 reason for purchase, while another 16% said looks and styling was the most important reason for the purchase of a scooter,” he added.In contrast, the overwhelmingly male customers of motorcycles focus more on mileage. In the mass market economy bike segment (125cc or below), 34% of the respondents in the JD Power survey said mileage and fuel economy is the single most important reason for buying a bike while 8% cited comfort as more important.Scooters have become a topgrowth segment in the Indian two-wheeler industry clocking a 20% CAGR which is five times that of commuter motorcycles over the past 10 years. They comprise one-third of domestic two-wheeler sales.Globally, except in China and Africa, scooters outsell motorcycles with 57% marketshare to 43% for bikes. Scooters are also doing extremely well in parts of the ASEAN like Indonesia and Vietnam and auto analysts expect the segment to become equally dominant as bikes in India as well.