New Strategist books examine all aspects of U.S. consumer spending
Ithaca, N.Y.-based publisher New Strategist has released a number of new books on U.S. consumers and their spending habits. Based on unpublished data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 1997 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand examines spending patterns for individual products by the demogaphic characteristics of households. The book analyzes household spending on 300 products and services (from alcoholic beverages to air travel) by age of householder, household income, household type, and region of residence. It identifies which households spend the most on a product or service and which control the largest share of spending. Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What, a companion to Best Customers, also uses CES data to give readers a complete statistical picture of the buying habits of U.S. consumers by age, income, household type, and region of residence. American Incomes: Demographics of Who Has Money explores the economic impact of the changing U.S. economy and its effects on household income, women’s income, men’s income, and discretionary income. The Baby Boom: Americans Aged 35 to 54 provides marketers with the demographic and spending data needed to target Baby Boomers. Its nine chapters examine Boomers’ attitudes, education, health, incomes, labor force participati0n, living arrangements, population, spending, and wealth. Americans 55 & Older: A Changing Market takes a similar approach to profiling older Americans. The two-volume set Regional Markets: The Demographics of Growth & Decline shows where the U.S. will be changing in the years ahead by age, race and Hispanic origin, household type, and income. Each chapter presents data for the nation as a whole as well as for individual regions, divisions, states, metro areas, and counties. The American Marketplace: Demographics & Spending Patterns is designed to give quick access to data from government sources to those who need the latest demographic and spending data but don’t have the time to search for the numbers.
New corporate reputation index from Fortune, Roper Starch
Fortune magazine and New .York research firm Roper Starch Worldwide have joined forces to launch the Fortune/Roper Corporate Reputation Index, a research product that surveys both business executives and consumers on what they admire most, and least, about companies in the Fortune 500. This new product, based on the magazine’s annual survey of "America’s Most Admired Corporations," will include new, unpublished corporate reputation data enabling individual companies to benchmark themselves against the competition and the industry as a whole. The Fortune/Roper Corporate Reputation Index will be available as a stand-alone product to be released in April following the release of the "America’s Most Admired Companies Survey" in the February 21 issue of the magazine. Data for the Fortune/Roper Corporate Reputation Index is based on the opinions of more than 12,000 consumers, individual investors and influential Americans surveyed specifically for the Index, coupled with responses from the more than 10,000 executives and industry analysts currently involved in the magazine’s "America’s Most Admired Corporations" survey.
Study examines Bay Area attitudes toward nontraditional health care
Marchione & Spero Research Center, Walnut Creek, Calif., has released its 1999 Benchmark Study on The Bay Area’s Attitudes Towards & Experiences with Nontraditional & Alternative Healthcare. The study is based on interviews with 240 Bay Area residents, who were asked about their current health and health care behavior, including visits to any type of health care provider over the past year. The interviews included questions on attitudes (first impressions and personal feelings) toward alternative medicine approaches and petsonal and indirect experiences with non-traditional medical approaches (when and for what), and how they rated the outcome of nontraditional treatments and whether these treatments were covered by insurance.
Harris Interactive launches youthoriented Web portal
Harris Interactive, a New York market research company, has launched i-matter.com, a youth-oriented portal in conjunction with The Harris Youth Poll, a study of youth attitudes and behavior that is designed to keep clients abreast of the ever-changing youth culture. I-matter.com offers a virtual community where kids and teens learn about polling, take part in opinion polls, and discuss their opinions. This site will serve as the meeting point for the on-line community of young people that Harris Interactive will ask to participate in survey research. The site also serves as the polling "channel" for many youth sites and many of Harris’s partners have chosen to link their youth-oriented sites to i-matter.com.
Updated ArcView now out
ESRI, a Redlands, Calif., GIS software firm, has introduced ArcView Business Analyst 1.1, the firm’s
desktop GIS product. It provides ArcView GIS with data analysis tools and a catalog of 1999 business, demographic and household data for the U.S. Data selections include: 1999 business listings" from Dun & Bradstreet, with SIC codes, company name, address and sales and employee information when available; current year household consumer information from Experian; nationwide demographic data; and a nationwide street database from Wessex.
ew software from TelAthena
New York software firm TelAthena Systems LLC is now offering a Linux version of its TelAthena Human Interaction System, a software system for scripting and ca!l center management. The TelAthena Human Interaction System is fully ODBC- and SQL-compliant and includes tools to facilitate the exchange of information via the telephone or the Web. TelAthena interfaces with predictive dialing systems and with TSAPI or TAPI compliant telephone systems. The firm has also released its Web based Real-Time Statistics (WRTS) reporting tool for the TelAthena Human Interaction System. The WRTS reporting system provides supervisors and managers with realtime information regarding the actual progress of inbound or outbound campaigns, groups within the campaign and individual agents.
New SEM software from SPSS
SPSS Inc., Chicago, has introduced Amos 4.0, new modeling software that uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to help users create, verify and modify data mining models. The software provides a graphical environment for all steps of the modeling process; users specify, estimate, assess, modify and present their model using Amos’ drawing tools. Amos delivers a picture of the model that enables users to see the relationship of the variables. Users can also create models to verify not only how but also why variables affect each other.
Survey system from NCS
National Computer Systems (NCS), a Minneapolis research firm, has introduced the NCS professional
survey system, featuring SurveyTracker software. The system includes built-in tools that provide
shortcuts and guidance for designing surveys, selecting the audience, administering the surveys
and reporting and interpreting the results. At the heart of the system is SurveyTracker software, which is available in four versions: Survey Tracker Plus E-Mail/Web; SurveyTracker Plus; SurveyTracker E-Mail/Web; or SurveyTracker Classic Software.
NIRI offers census-based sales data product
Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, has released multioutlet competitive sales data for the
marketing areas of over 50 food, drug and mass merchandiser retailers nationwide. The new Multi-
Outlet Competitive Retailer Marketing Areas are customized geographic areas that correspond to the way a given retailer defines its marketing area. They include all of the retailer’s own stores as well as stores of competitors that fall within that geographic area. IRI’s new offering covers three classes of trade, combining data for grocery, drug and mass merchandiser retailer marketing areas.