Extreme sports are popular

From Florida to Alaska and from Maine to Hawaii, extreme sports are popular with the general public. According to the Superstudy of Sports Participation, conducted by SGMA International, North Palm Beach, Fla., extreme sports are an established trend and here to stay. Following are some additional facts on the 12 most popular extreme sports.

Inline skating: 51 percent of all inline skaters are female, yet 58 percent of all frequent (25+ days/year) inline skaters are male.

Skateboarding: The average number of days of participation for a skateboarder in 2003 was 44 days.

Paintball: U.S. sales and overall participation in paintball have risen each year since 1998.

Artificial-wall climbing: The average age of an artificial wall climbing enthusiast in 2003 was 19.9 years of age.

Snowboarding: Sales of snowboard equipment in 2003 were $141 million (at wholesale).

Mountain biking: Nearly 70 percent of mountain bikers are male.

Trail running: Since the late 1990s, overall participation has grown 17.3 percent in trail running - from 5.2 million (in 1998) to 6.1 million (in 2003).

BMX bicycling: The average age of a BMX cyclist in 2003 was 26.5 years of age.

Wakeboarding: The average annual household income of a wakeboarder in 2003 was $73,400.

Roller hockey: Of the 2.7 million roller hockey players, 33 percent of them (900,000) play the sport on a “frequent” (25+ days/year) basis.

Mountain/rock climbing: Nearly 60 percent of mountain/rock climbers are male.

Boardsailing/windsurfing: More than 40 percent of all boardsailors live in the South and more than 52 percent of boardsailors live in cities with a population of more than two million. For more information visit www.sgma.com .

Airport ads reach upscale consumers

Airport advertising is an effective medium for reaching upscale Americans, according to a study by Arbitron Inc., New York. According to the “Arbitron Airport Advertising Study: Exploring an Undiscovered Upscale Medium,” the reach of airports is significant, with 92 million Americans having flown in the past year. Eighteen percent of this group - or 17 million people - are frequent flyers who are affluent and well-educated consumers who take four or more flights per year and account for nearly 60 percent of all airport advertising impressions.

One-third (33 percent) of frequent flyers have an annual household income of at least $100,000 compared to only 10 percent of the average American. More than two-thirds (68 percent) have a college or graduate degree.

“Airport advertising has traditionally targeted the business-to-business and technology sectors, but frequent airline travelers are sophisticated consumers with varied tastes and the income to pursue their interests,” says Diane Williams, custom research analyst, Arbitron. “Airport advertising presents a unique opportunity for premium brands, especially luxury goods and entertainment services, to reach their upscale targets in a captive environment.”

The number of consumers using air travel from season to season is remarkably consistent, with a slight peak occurring only during the winter holidays, when one-quarter of Americans fly. In this modern world of heightened security, Americans are getting to the airport earlier and spending more time in the lobby and terminal areas each time they travel. While waiting at the airport, 72 percent of travelers read the airport advertising billboards around them and 64 percent pass the time by shopping.

Forty-five percent of frequent flyers are “mega-milers,” consumers who log 261 or more miles per week in an automobile and are heavily exposed to outdoor advertising. Less than a third (32 percent) of average Americans clock that many miles per week. Thirty percent of frequent flyers are heavily exposed to street furniture and transit advertising by walking five or more miles a week in a city or downtown area, compared to 21 percent of the general population. This makes the airport a natural extension of an outdoor campaign.

“Airline travelers spend less time with television and are heavy consumers of other out-of-home media including billboards and street furniture,” says Jacqueline Noel, vice president of outdoor, Arbitron Inc. “Airport advertising can be an important complement to outdoor campaigns and should be part of the standard media mix. This is particularly true for advertisers of luxury goods.”

In July 2003, a total of 2,005 people, age 12+, were chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron’s Spring 2003 survey diarykeepers and interviewed over the telephone. Additional studies, consisting of a national representative sample of 1,000 respondents of airline travel among adults 18+ were conducted in October 2003, January 2004 and March 2004 to allow for seasonal trending.

The research from this study also includes information from Scarborough Research. Based on consumer data from Scarborough Research, frequent flyers are two-and-a-half times more likely than the typical consumer to buy high-end jewelry and watches; two times more likely to buy or lease a luxury vehicle; and almost one-and-a-half times more likely to buy an MP3 player. For more information visit www.arbitron.com .

Unhappy auto buyers can be won back

A new study by Maritz Automotive Research Group, St. Louis, has found that auto buyers who complain about their vehicle quality or dealership experience and are happy with the way the dealership handles their complaints are more than 1.5 times as likely to be loyal to the dealership than non-complainers when purchasing their next vehicle.

The five-year tracking study, “Customer Complaints: An Opportunity to Increase or Decrease Customer Loyalty,” is an analysis of 3,104 new vehicle buyers and lessees who responded to Maritz’ 1998 New Vehicle Customer Survey and who were again surveyed in 2003. The Maritz study found that the majority of people who complained to their dealership about their vehicle or dealership experience were not satisfied with the way their complaint was resolved. However, when customers’ complaints were resolved well, 60 percent returned to the dealership when replacing their vehicle. This compares to approximately 38 percent of non-complainers and only 30 percent of people who complained and were unsatisfied with the complaint resolution, returning to the dealership to purchase or lease a replacement vehicle.

When looking at repurchasing or leasing the same make/brand of vehicle (regardless of the dealership), a similar relationship between complaint resolution and loyalty was found. “The ability of the dealership to satisfactorily resolve customers’ complaints represents a key moment of truth for the consumer and a large opportunity for dealers,” says David Ensing, author of the study and director of Maritz Automotive Research Group. “Dealerships are the face of the auto manufacturer. Dealerships and vehicle manufacturers need to work together to quickly and painlessly handle legitimate customer complaints. It turns out that, if handled well, complainers can be the most loyal customers.” The complete study is featured in Maritz Research’s Research Report newsletter located at www.maritzresearch.com .

Product not made in the U.S.A? Shoppers don’t care

A study reports that 72 percent of American shoppers don’t check to see where products for the home are made before they buy them, and 57 percent report that even if they knew a product was not made in the U.S.A., it would have little or no effect on their decision.

The study was sponsored by Marketing Support, Inc., a Chicago brand marketing agency, and conducted by TeleNation, which polled 1,000 consumers in March 2004, with tabulations completed in late May. The margin of error was +/-2.6 percent.

The apathy toward purchasing U.S.-made products was even more dramatic among the youngest consumers, 18 to 24, only 15 percent of whom said that they would be more likely to purchase a product if they knew it was made in the U.S.

Among older consumers, ages 55 to 64, the results were almost opposite, with 44 percent stating that knowing the product was made in the U.S. would positively affect their buying decision.

Among those with a high-school diploma or less, 51 percent stated that they took the country of origin into account, but only 30 percent of those with post-graduate degrees stated they did so. The more education, apparently, the more apathy.

There was no variance by gender, income level or region of the country among the 72 percent who don’t look to see where the product was made before purchasing.

According to David L. Weiner, CEO of Marketing Support, these results significantly differ from a Gallup poll undertaken in 1994, which reported that 84 percent of consumers moderately or strongly sought out American-made goods.

Weiner says there is no ongoing marketing campaign by private interest groups or the government that encourages consumers to look for and purchase American-made products. And there is no motivation reinforcement other than media reports, which primarily state the facts. In other words, nobody is telling people in U.S. households that buying American-made products is a good thing to do. “As a result, we appear to be part of a vicious circle,” Weiner says. “We are losing hundreds of thousands of higher-paying manufacturing jobs to lower-paid service industry jobs, motivating consumers to look for products with the best price for the same quality, regardless of where the products are made. These consumers need to really stretch their dollars, and ‘made in the U.S.A.’ is obviously not the factor it once was.

“Manufacturers of commodity products in particular are no longer capable of controlling their pricing. Their competitors set the pricing levels for them, including many of their own large retailer customers, who are establishing their own brands that are made offshore. ”

Weiner suggests that the Ad Council or the U.S. Department of Commerce, which has a $6 billion budget to develop a common “Made in USA” logo, encourage manufacturers of U.S.-made products to place it on their products and packaging, and then develop a campaign to motivate consumers to look for that logo when making a purchase. For more information visit www.msinet.com .

Consumers say supermarkets, food makers doing a good job

Supermarkets and packaged food companies top the list of industries which get the best marks for serving their customers, in the annual Harris Poll ranking 15 industries on how well they serve consumers. Fully 87 percent believe supermarkets do a good job of serving their consumers, and 77 percent feel this way about the packaged food companies. Next on the list come airlines (74 percent), computer hardware (73 percent), banks (73 percent), and software (72 percent) companies.

At the bottom of the list, only 30 percent think tobacco companies and managed care companies do a good job. Oil companies (32 percent) are only marginally better.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll, a survey of 979 adults surveyed by telephone between April 8 and 15, 2004.

There have been two quite substantial changes between 2003 and 2004. Airlines, which fell very sharply in 2001, have bounced back, gaining 10 points from 64 percent last year to 74 percent this year. This is an increase of 23 percentage points since the airlines’ lowest number, 51 percent in 2001.

Oil companies, on the other hand, have slipped 10 points this year from 42 percent in 2003, to 32 percent. This is a fall of 32 percentage points since their best number, 64 percent in 1998. It clearly reflects the impact of high fuel prices.

When it comes to long-term trends over the last seven years, since Harris first began asking this question in 1997, five industries have fallen by 19 percentage points or more. Pharmaceutical companies have fallen the furthest, down 35 points from 79 percent in 1997 to only 44 percent now. Oil companies have fallen 27 points since 1997, from 59 percent to 32 percent. Telephone companies are down 24 points from 80 percent to 56 percent. Managed care companies are down 21 points, from 51 percent to only 30 percent now. And health insurance companies are down 19 points, from 55 percent to 36 percent.

Concerns about prices are clearly the reasons for the decline in the ratings of oil companies and pharmaceutical companies. Health insurance and managed care companies declined sharply because they have had very bad press over the last several years, even though member satisfaction with health plans has not changed significantly over this period. The decline in the image of telephone companies mostly occurred when they were locked in telemarketing battles which probably turned off many people. Quality of service may also be an issue. For more information visit www.harrisinteractive.com .

San Francisco, are you ready to rock?

A study of consumers in local markets across the U.S. by Scarborough Research, New York, found that San Francisco is the top market for rock concert attendance. Nineteen percent of adult consumers there say they have attended a rock concert during the past year. Minneapolis (18 percent), Austin, Texas (18 percent), Milwaukee (17 percent) and Chicago (17 percent) round out the leading local markets for rock concert attendance. Nationally, 12 percent of adults have attended a rock concert during the past year.

Rock concert attendees lead active lives and are in high-income brackets. They are more than twice as likely as all consumers to have gone snow skiing, in-line skating, or to have played tennis during the past year. They are 49 percent more likely than all consumers to have gone swimming during the past year; 63 percent more likely to have bicycled; 67 percent more likely to have gone jogging; and 85 percent more likely to have participated in adult team sports. Twenty-one percent of rock concert attendees have an annual household income of $100,000+. They are 58 percent more likely than all adults to be in this income bracket. On average, rock concert attendees are 36 years old and they are 60 percent more likely than all adults to be single.

Rock concert attendees are avid consumers in top concert sponsorship categories, including automotive and beverage. This segment is 45 percent more likely than all consumers to have three or more cars in their household. They are 21 percent more likely than all consumers to have consumed bottled or canned tea during the past week and 43 percent more likely to have consumed a sports drink during the past seven days.

When it comes to radio formats, rock concert attendees are true to their interest and are 87 percent more likely than all consumers to tune in to rock radio stations. But their tastes go beyond the rock genre. An analysis shows that they are 32 percent more likely than all consumers to tune into adult contemporary; 39 percent more likely to tune in to contemporary hits radio; more than twice as likely as all consumers to listen to alternative format stations; 17 percent more likely to listen to oldies and 13 percent more likely to tune in to news/talk/information. The data for this report was compiled from Scarborough USA+ Release 2 2003. For more information visit www.scarborough.com .

Bricks-and-mortar bookstores still top choice

The scale of bookstore sales versus online sales of books still tips heavily in favor of bricks-and-mortar stores by an 8-to-1 ratio, or eight books sold in stores for every one book sold online. There is no denying that retailers face an increasing threat from online booksellers as the $17.6 billion book retailing market is shifting. In 2003, online sales of books represented 14 percent of total sales and amounted to $2.5 billion, up more than threefold from $800 million in 1998.

Research by Chicago-based Mintel reveals that nearly 40 percent of Americans purchase books at a bookstore in comparison to 14 percent who do so online. Male respondents are especially likely to favor bookstores.

There are several reasons why book buyers still visit bookstores, even as online booksellers enjoy greater reach and more widespread availability. The top two reasons are the desire for an in-store experience that includes a favorable atmosphere, and the opportunity for impulse purchases, both of which cannot be replicated by online booksellers.

Mintel’s research reveals that consumers continue to shop at physical bookstore locations while also enjoying the convenience of online book shopping. In fact, approximately one-quarter of respondents indicate shopping both at bookstores and online sites. Effectively, one retail channel does not supplant the other. Instead, the two channels complement one another.

According to the recently published Mintel report on book retailing, there are an estimated 2,500 independently owned bookstores in the U.S., compared to an estimated 3,000 big chain bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-a-Million. An estimated 27 percent of retail book sales are generated by big bookstore chains. Increasingly, book retailing in the U.S. extends beyond the big chain and independent bookstores. In 2003, for example, food stores, drug stores, mass merchants and warehouse clubs represent 53 percent of sales, up from 49 percent in 1998. Large bookstore chains are also growing. The big-box retailers reached $4.7 billion in book sales in 2003, and represent over one-quarter of all revenue in the book trade. Independent bookstores lost market share and suffered a 2 percent decline in revenue during the two-year period ending 2003. For more information visit www.mintel.com .