12 million Americans will rely on the Internet for holiday shopping

Contrary to conventional wisdom, many retail stores will actually benefit from the Internet during this holiday shopping season. According to Cyber Dialogue, a New Yorkbased. Internet research and consulting firm, while some 6.7 million adults will purchase holiday items on-line this year, an even larger number, 9.0 million shoppers, will purchase products off-line after first gathering information on-line. About 4 million of these shoppers will purchase both on-line and offline after surfing the Net.

The firm projects that consumers will spend $4.7 billion altogether this holiday season after using the Internet, including $2.7 billion spent in local stores and via phone after searching for product information on-line, plus $2.0 billion spent directly on-line.

This year's on-line spending total represents a 300 percent gain over last year's holiday on-line spending, which Cyber Dialogue pegged at $640 million. The increase is attributed to the steady growth in numbers of on-line shoppers combined with wider availability of traditional holiday gift items on-line. Product categories that should benefit from the Internet this year include consumer electronics, personal computers, clothing, cosmetics, books, music and specialty gift items, the company says.

Cyber Dialogue's holiday shopping estimates are based on recent trends in on-line and off-line shopping found in the American Internet User Survey, a national study that provides data on personal Internet users, business Internet users, academic Internet users and non-Internet users.

After the '90s, then what?

Every decade of this century has had an obvious nickname. The 1960s were shortened to "the '60s," the 1970s were dubbed "the' 70s" and so on. The choice for a moniker for the next decade is not so obvious. What should we use as a shortened name for the first decade of the 21st century? A TeleNation survey conducted for JSH & A Public Relations found 43 percent of Americans think it should be called "the two thousands." Meanwhile, 12 percent would like to see it dubbed "the double zeros"; 8 percent prefer "the double ohs"; and 5 percent like the sound of "the 2ks." TeleNation is a national telephone survey conducted by Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Market Facts.

Shopping bustle continues on the day after Christmas

A Maritz AmeriPoll, conducted by St. Louis-based Maritz Marketing Research, finds that despite all the commercial hoopla about the Christmas shopping season beginning on the day after Thanksgiving, elss than one-fourth of Americans say they brave the consumer crowds to go shopping that day. Enthusiasm runs highest among 18-24-year-olds, 43 percent of whom planned to hit the stores on that Friday after Thanksgiving. “It’s tradition in our family for my mom, my sisters, and me to go shopping together the day after Thanksgiving,” said one30-year-old writer. “We go to a lot of smaller shops to avoid the mall crowds, and that’s when I buy my wrapping paper and Christmas cards.” Only 11 percent of adults over 65 plan to shop that day.

Taking advantage of those after-Christmas sales, however, is another story: 41 percent of respondents said they planned to shop the day after Christmas. “I’m usually out there the day after, stocking up on Christmas decorations, cards, and ornaments,” said a 24-year-old software marketer. “I never pay full price for holiday decorations.” Again, the idea is most popular among 18-24-year-olds, with 55 percent planning to snatch up some post-holiday deals. Such bargain shopping also knows no income bounds, since 44 percent of those with incomes under $15,000 plan to shop on the 26th, along with 45 percent with incomes over $65,000.

Manufacturers speed product development cycles

A survey of 100 consumer products manufacturers by management consultants Emanuel Weintraub Associates, Ft. Lee, N.J., found these manufacturers pushing new products through the development pipeline with unprecedented speed, under pressure from key customers who sense consumer spending is slowing down in the current economic turmoil. "To find so many companies sharply cutting their product development cycles strongly suggests that all retailers from autos to apparel need new merchandise ASAP to keep customer traffic and sales from falling off in these turbulent times," says Emanuel Weintraub, the firm's president. "The pressures on suppliers are so intense that most of the chief executives we surveyed are implementing major internal measures to cut product development timetables and costs to the bone."

The survey of chief executives found that 86 percent of respondents acknowledge that demands from key customers are driving them to shorten the product development cycle, with the result that:

  • 36 percent now have one- to three-month development cycles;
  • 36 percent of respondents have one- to six-month cycles;
  • 28 percent have cycles of six months to under a year. More than 70 percent of the respondents say they have had to implement one or more of the following three key steps internally to achieve shortened product development timetables:
  • make organizational changes to expedite the business decision-making process (i.e., flatten the organization);
  • upgrade or add computer-aided design systems coupled to product costing systems;
  • increase market research prior to new product launches. "Suppliers have no choice but to make these changes and comply with major customer demands," Weintraub says. "They all have fewer accounts and eager global competitors who are ready, willing and able to deliver quality merchandise quickly at competitive pricing if they can't."

Promotional products sales exceeded $11 billion in 1997

Once again, distributor sales figures of promotional products reached new record levels, according to the results of the annual sales survey by Promotional Products Association International (PPA), Irving, Texas. In 1997, promotional product distributor sales totaled nearly $11.9 billion, up a whopping 25.1 percent from the 1996 record level of $9.5 billion. Over a five-year period, industry sales of items such as imprinted coffee mugs, pens, calculators, food gifts, totebags, caps, key tags, calendars, mousepads and phone cards grew by $6.6 billion, a remarkable 127 percent increase.

"In addition to a strong economy, several factors have contributed to the sales surge, says Steve Slagle, PPA president. "Companies are targeting their marketing programs more frequently to niche audiences, and are using promotional products to support those efforts. This medium allows marketers to build closer relationships with customers and gain customer loyalty.

"Promotional products are integrated into major campaigns that involve not only advertising, but sales promotion, public relations, internal communications and other disciplines," says Slagle.

For the twelfth consecutive year, wearable items such as T-shirts, caps, jackets and headbands were the most popular product category, racking up 27 percent of all sales.



Completing the top five categories were writing instruments (11.8 percent of sales), glassware and ceramics (9.4 percent), calendars (7.3 percent) and desk/office business accessories (5.6 percent).

For the first time, the survey measure distributor sales by the type of program that utilizes the medium. Business gifts topped the list at 20 percent followed by employee relations and events at 12.2 percent, trade shows at 8.7 percent and public relations at 8.5 percent.

The study was conducted and tabulated by Baylor University from a mail survey of more than 13,000 promotional products distributors in the United States.

Value-added produce seen as greatest growth area

Today it is possible to find a preparation shortcut for every meal melon balls for breakfast, sliced vegetables for the kids' lunches and chopped chicken for a stir-fry dinner. As reported in SuperMarket Research, a newsletter from the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), FMI's "Trends in the United States: Consumer Attitudes and the Supermarket, 1998" reveals that over 65 percent of shoppers purchase some type of value-added product at least once a month. Items such as pre-cut cleaned and ready-to-cook vegetable items and precut, cleaned and bagged salads continue to grow in popularity. And retailers are anticipating further growth.

According to recently released "Food Marketing Industry Speaks 1998" data, almost 17 percent of produce department operators feel that the greatest growth area would be value-added produce. Another department experiencing growth in the value-added product arena is the meat department. Data reveals that value-added meat products would amount to 14 percent of meat sales by the year 2000, compared to 6.7 percent in 1997.

Washing, chopping, shredding and packaging are what add value to the fruit and vegetable products. FMI Speaks data shows that the most prevalent value-added produce item offered is coleslaw (86 percent) followed by carrots (82 percent) and broccoli florets (79 percent). Most vegetable products are prepared by a local or regional supplier whereas most fruit products are prepared in individual stores. In over 97 percent of the stores surveyed, value-added produce is prepared manually. Cooking, marinating, cutting and seasoning are the attributes of value-added meats. FMI Speaks data shows that over 75 percent of retail companies offer marinated, pre-seasoned meat products. Retailers cited that poultry was the most successful marinated preseasoned product. Fish was the least successful.

Over 54 percent of companies reported selling fully cooked meat products. Of those companies offering cooked meats, nearly all offered poultry but few offered ground beef items. Yet, cooked ground beef items were rated as the most successful of the cooked meat products. The majority of fully cooked meats are prepared by a manufacturer or supplier but a surprising number of retailers cook meats on the premises.

Hispanics choose USPS most often for expedited mail services

As reported in Hispanic Perspective, a newsletter from the San Diego-based research firm Market Development Inc. (MDI), almost 60 percent of U.S. Hispanics use expedited mail services and of this number, over half use them several times per year. The MDI poll asked 1,000 Hispanics, 18 years and older, about their usage of expedited and special mail services.

Expedited Mail Services Used in the Past Six Months Federal Express 22 percent

UPS............................................ 31 percent
USPS Express Mail....................... 21 percent
USPS Priority Mail......................... 23 percent
USPS Global Priority Mail.................4 percent
USPS International Express Mail......8 percent
DHL.............................................5 percent

How Frequently Expedited Mail Services Are Used

2-6 Times A Year..........................29 percent
Once A Month...............................22 percent
2-3 Times Per Month......................15 percent
Once A Year..................................11 percent
Less Often Than Once A Year..........7 percent
Once A Week................................5 percent
2-6 Times A Week.........................4 percent
Every Day.....................................4 percent
Don't Know..................................3 percent

Special Mail Service Provided by USPS in the Past Six Months

Certified Mail.................................31 percent
Registered Mail.............................27 percent
Priority Mail...................................3 percent

For the purpose of this study, expedited mail services were defined as overnight or two-day domestic and/or international service using such carriers as Federal Express, the United States Postal Service (USPS), UPS and DHL. Special mail services were defined as certified or registered mail.

One microwave is no longer enough for many consumers

American consumers are declaring that one microwave is not enough, according to Decision Analyst, Inc., an Arlington, Texas, marketing research firm. In the American Appliance Survey of 6,431 households, Decision Analyst discovered that one out of every 10 consumers has purchased a second, and in some cases, a third microwave oven. "There appears to be a growing movement among consumers to purchase additional appliances," says Matt Michel, the senior researcher for the project, "and microwaves are leading the trend."

Michel said that 7 percent of the households reported owning a second microwave and another 4 percent owned three of the appliance.

What are the leading brands? General Electric has the most microwaves in place in American homes, but Sharp and Panasonic are coming on strong. In fact, Sharp has outsold G.E. over the past two years in the add-on and replacement market according to the survey. The survey has a margin of error of ±1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.

Who plays the new name game?

More than 80 percent of all companies created a new name during the last two years, according to a survey of marketing and communications executives at 400 U.S. firms conducted by Rivkin & Associates, a Glen Rock, N.J., marketing and communications firm.

More than two-thirds reported that creating the new name - for a product, service, company or division is more difficult than in the past.

"Today, a new name has to work overtime to slice through the clutter," says Steve Rivkin, president of Rivkin & Associates. "A new name has to hit the trifecta - it has to be distinct and memorable and meaningful. A lazy name is the kiss of death for a marketer."

In 1997, more than 192,000 new trademark name applications were added to the 1.2 million active trademarks already registered in the United States. "And on the company naming front, you have more than nine million names of corporations and businesses to consider," Rivkin says. "No wonder so many companies are struggling to find appropriate names for themselves and their products."

Among other findings in the biennial survey:

  • The most commonly used methods to generate new names were internal task forces (used by 72 percent of respondents), extensions of existing names (39 percent) and advertising agencies (34 percent). Next in order: Contests among employees and naming consultants.
  • Cited as the single most effective method were internal task forces (64 percent of businesses). Next most effective: Advertising agencies and naming consultants.
  • Slightly more than half of all companies use some form of research to test new names before they are introduced.

Teens spend $12 billion at fast-food restaurants

The nation's 23 million teens are veritable eating machines, with the typical 12-to-17-year-old eating on average 4.33 times a day and close to half (42 percent) eating five or more times a day, according to the "1998 Teen Eating Study." The study, commissioned by Channel One Network, found that a third of those meals are eaten away from home, with teens leaving $12.7 billion a year at fastfood restaurants.

"Most parents of teens feel like their kids are spending huge amounts of time and money eating," says Tim Nichols, executive vice president, research, Channel One Network. "But even we were surprised by a lot of what we found, like the fact that most kids eat breakfast and that nearly a third of the meals that kids eat away from home or school are from a convenience or grocery store."

The 1998 Teen Eating Study found that teens between 12 and 17 are just as likely to eat breakfast as they are lunch or dinner. Lunch is the meal most likely to be eaten away from home, with most (58 percent) buying something at school and roughly 28 percent of teens bringing lunch from home. The after-school snack has become essentially a fourth meal for most surveyed. The typical teen spends $1.25 a day on after-school snacking, a total of $5.2 billion a year to keep hunger pangs away between the end of the school day and dinner.

Today's typical teen visits fast food restaurants more than twice a week (2.13 times, nearly 7 percent of all eating occasions) and spends $5.72 on each visit for a teen total of almost $13 billion a year. After-school snacks count for nearly 15 percent of that, roughly $800 million. It's no real surprise that hamburgers are teens' favorite, with nearly half (46 percent) ordering one when they stop for fast food. Pizza is next on the list at 13 percent followed by 10 percent of fast-food meals that are Tex-Mex.



The Channel One "1998 Teen Eating Study" was designed by David Michaelson & Associates, a New York research firm, and conducted in November 1997. Participating teens completed a diary of all food consumed for a two-day period, including weekdays and weekends. Included in the diary was the food eaten, source of the food, where the food was consumed and the cost of the food, if purchased. A total of 1,500 respondents were recruited and 734 complete and valid responses (49.5 percent) were received. The sample included 381 boys and 362 girls ages 12 to 17, for a total of 6,432 eating occasions in the analysis.