America's catching its Zs
Most Americans - almost 70% - say they get enough sleep. The average American sleeps between six and eight hours on weeknights, according to a Bruskin/Goldring 1,000-respondent telephone survey. Only 3% said they sleep too much. But about a third more women than men say they could use more time inspecting the inside of their eyelids. Young adults agreed. Weekends were their saving grace. Almost half said they slept at least eight hours then.
On the other hand, if given an extra two hours of free time a week, sleep didn't even make the top five preferred activities. Socializing with friends and family topped the list, followed by reading, relaxing, working, exercising, sleeping, watching TV and writing. Significantly more women (at least 10%) than men chose reading, while the reverse was true for working. (In other categories, the disparity was about 5% or less.) Younger respondents (18 to 24 years old) were more interested in socializing or sleeping, while 50-plus respondents were more likely to spend their time reading, relaxing, working and watching TV. Respondents could pick more than one choice.
Hispanic teens dig Da Bulls
Hispanic teens like Da Bulls - or at any rate, they like merchandise with the logo of the NBA champion Chicago Bulls. A recent poll by Market Devel-opment Inc. of San Diego sampled the opinions of 500 self-identified 12- to 17-year-old Hispanics in five U.S. cit-ies. Nearly half (46%) said they had purchased officially licensed athletic apparel in the last 30 days, with 19% choosing Chicago Bulls items. Los Angeles Raiders clothing accounted for 10% of purchases, followed by the University of Miami Hurricanes (9%), the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Knicks (both at 7%).
MDI general manager Roger Sennott said their was a clear link between the popularity of Bulls merchandise and the team' s star player Michael Jordan. Even New York teens expressed a slight (2%) preference for Bulls merchandise over their home team. (Elsewhere, however, apparel choices tended toward the hometown or regional team favorites.) The effect of Jordan' s retirement remains to be seen.
Professional team merchandise was the clear favorite over college teams (58% vs. 21%). Pro basketball was the top choice, followed by baseball and football. Preferred college team merchandise was (in order): University of Miami Hurricanes, Georgetown Hoyas, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the UCLA Bruins and the Florida State Seminoles. Officially licensed items were more popular among boys than girls, by about a 6 to 5 margin, but enjoyed about the same level of popularity between U.S. foreign-born teens (49% to 44%). However, 63% of foreign-born Hispanic teens bought an item with a pro team logo, compared with 54% of their U.S.-born counterparts. Nearly twice as many U.S.-born respondents bought college team merchandise, however.
Married girls are a diamond's best friend
The U.S. retail diamond jewelry market posted gains in 1992, thanks in large part to the "married-women' s segment." The New York-based American Diamond Industry Inc. newsletter reports that the American retail diamond jewelry market is the world's strongest, despite the lingering recession. Last year U.S. retailers sold more than 17.4 million pieces of jewelry at an average price per piece of almost $700.
Last year married women accounted for more than 70% of the retail market value for women's diamond jewelry. This is an 8% rise by value and a 5% increase in number of pieces sold in 1991. The 1992 sales are valued at about $4.6 billion, about twice the sales to unmarried women, which totaled $2.1 billion.
The greatest sources of retail sales growth in married women's jewelry were for birthdays (up 28% in value) and anniversaries (up 12%). Overall Christmas sales were up by 6%. The diamond engagement ring market held steady at about 70% of all engagements. However, sales of women's diamond wedding rings grew by 11% and the average price rose nearly 14%, to $874. Men's diamond wedding rings also saw growth, up 10% for a total value of $349 million.
This strong showing in the face of a sluggish economy confirms the theory that diamonds satisfy a consumer "want," not a "need." Data indicates a year-to-year rise of 1.2% by volume, more than 4% by value and 3.6% in average price. Even in the depth of the recession, retail diamond sales remained strong, suggesting the strength of the public's love affair with diamonds appears to have little relationship to tough - or flush - economic times.
Americans for better - or maybe worse
Americans are sending a mixed message about the state of John and Jane Q. Public. A recent survey by Barna Research Group Ltd., Glendale, Calif., found that though we see progress on some fronts in the past decade, in other ways we feel we're moving backwards.
On the bright side, more than half think we' re more politically aware, more compassionate and more literate than we were 10 years ago. The most positive assessments are coming from Catholics, evangelicals and Christians who are active in church life.
Somewhat paradoxically, unregistered voters were more likely to think political awareness had grown. Senior citizens and registered Democrats, on the other hand, saw a decline in political awareness.
Almost half the respondents feel compassion for the needy is on the rise as well. Widows, non-churchgoers and college grads were least likely to say this, however. Literacy is also perceived to be up, with the optimistic Catholics seeing improvement, while suburb-dwellers tend to think it's worsening.
Tolerance for differences is evenly split: Catholics and Midwesterners think it's increasing; the well-off (incomes of at least $50,000) think it's dropping.
These were the bright spots. Elsewhere, Americans felt moral values, job productivity, financial responsibility, spiritual commitment, honesty and integrity were decaying, while selfishness was climbing. Twice as many Americans (22%) thought moral values were weakening than thought they were improving (10%). However, two-thirds thought they had remained about the same. Evangelical and born-again Christians were most likely to see moral values strengthening.
The same basic feeling held true for spiritual commitment, with churchgoers more optimistic, non-churchgoers gloomier. George Barna, president of the polling group, suggested that perhaps active churchgoers took a rosier view because they were more insulated from society at large.
Perceptions of job productivity did not jibe with statistics. Federal measurements show worker productivity up, but in general people think it's waning.
The poll revealed certain demographic patterns: The better-off (earning at least $50,000 annually), college grads and men are more likely to see progress; conversely, those earning less than $25,000 a year, those with only a high school diploma, and women are more fatalistic. Overall, however, the outlook is more gloomy than not.
Evaluations of honesty and selfishness were particularly dim, with a four-to-one margin seeing a drop in the former and rise in the latter. Again, regular churchgoers tend to be one of the few groups that sees progress.
Data were drawn from the Barna group's telephone OmniPoll conducted in July and August of 687 randomly selected adults.
Edit readers are ad readers
A startlingly simple observation: If consumers aren't reading a magazine, they're not going to read the ads in it. More specifically (and less simplistically): consumers who read few articles are less likely to peruse the ads. A recent report by Cleveland-based Penton Research Services has found that a business person who reads at least three-quarters of a magazine's editorial (articles and departments) looks at an average of three times more ads than someone who reads less than a quarter of the editorial. The report is based on a series of surveys conducted for Penton by Research USA, a marketing and media research firm. The mail surveys polled 1,500 randomly selected subscribers of five Penton Publishing magazines. Penton Publishing is Penton Research's parent company. Results of 500 completed questionnaires were tabulated and analyzed by level of readership. The study results are outlined in a Penton Research Overview report.
Sporting good imports, exports grow
Both imports and exports of U.S.-made sporting goods continue to grow, but U.S. manufacturers can take heart: The exports growth rate continues to outstrip that of imports. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, North Palm Beach, Fla., has analyzed data from the U.S. Commerce Department and found that sporting goods exports rose 9.4% for the first half of 1993 compared with only 3.3% growth for the same period last year. The total value of exported athletic footwear and selected sports equipment was $749.4 million, compared with $685 million for the same period in 1992. This growth is particularly impressive considering the ongoing recession in major overseas markets like Japan and Germany, as well as stronger U.S. dollar.
The largest 1993 year-to-date increases were for basketballs, up 266%; other inflatable balls, up 70%; bowling balls, up almost 50%; and golf clubs, up 30%. Golf bags, leather athletic footwear, and tennis balls declined in export value, however. The statistics looked at archery, tennis, bowling, billiards, fishing tackle, water skis, roller skates, team sports, playground, snow ski equipment, and gym and exercise equipment. Because certain segments are excluded, the actual export amount is understated; shipments from overseas factories of U.S. companies also are not included. SGMA also cautions that data is not necessarily an indicator of consumer demand in a particular country, since some nations (especially Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom) serve as regional distribution centers.
Although sporting goods imports continue to climb to record heights, the growth rate has diminished recently. Total U.S. customs value of imported athletic footwear, sports apparel and selected sport equipment for the first half of 1993 was 7.6% more than the same period last year, but was less than the 15.6% rise from the first half of 1992 compared with the same period in 1991. The growth slowdown is attributed to a reduction in sports equipment imports, which are growing at only 5.1%, compared with a 32.4% growth rate for the first half of 1992.
Imports for the first half of 1991 were very weak for most product categories, especially golf, gym and exercise equipment, and fishing tackle, so the return to more "normal" levels of 1992 resulted in large percentage gains, according to Sebastian DiCasoli, SGMA's director of marketing services. Snow ski equipment, golf equipment, inflated balls, baseball and softball equipment and archery equipment have all seen large year-to-date increases. Tennis racquets andleather golf gloves fell. Sports equipment export leaders are Taiwan, China and South Korea. South Korea, China, Indonesia and Taiwan are the main exporters of athletic footwear. SGMA based its statistics on import volume on U.S. Commerce Department data, but warns they shouldn 't be used as the sole basis for developing an estimate of total sporting goods imports because product coverage is limited.
Hispanics favor NAFTA
U.S. Hispanics are nearly three-to-one in favor of a North American free trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada. According to a recent poll 61% overall of those polled said they would favor a free trade agreement; 23% said they would oppose it, and 16% had no opinion. San Diego-based Market Development Inc. interviewed 311 self-identified Hispanics in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston and San Antonio, Texas on the evening of Sept. 15, 1993. Houston respondents showed the strongest support (83% in favor), Miami residents the least, although over half (53%) were for the agreement. Support was equally strong among U.S.-born Hispanics and those born outside the United States.
Women pastors OK with the flock
More than three-quarters of the American public think it's just fine for women to be pastors or head ministers of churches, according to the Barna Research Group, Glendale, Calif. This opinion cut across all socioeconomic, denominational and demographic lines, except for evangelical Christians. Even there, however, nearly half (45%) favor women pastors (54% don't). Roman Catholics, whose church doctrine explicitly prohibits women from the priesthood, overwhelmingly (76%) agreed that women ministers were perfectly acceptable. The strongest supporters of women clergy were mainstream Protestants (86%), people who don't attend church regularly (85%), registered "independent" voters (84%), college grads and Generation X-ers (81% each).
Boomers to benefit from health reform
Baby Boomers are likely to benefit from the Clinton administration's health care reform, according to The Boomer Report, published by New York-based FIND/S VP. The youngest boomers are 29, the oldest in their late 40s, an age range when health problems start to become a fact of life. They are therefore often reluctant to change jobs or start their own businesses for fear of losing their health insurance. The Clinton plan's promise of cradle-to-grave coverage (regardless of pre-existing conditions, or self-employment), would allay such fears. As children of aging parents and parents of younger kids, Boomers would also benefit from proposed provisions such as in-home care for elderly parents and increased preventive care benefits for children. Even though younger, healthy single adults are likely to pay a bit more for insurance premiums, as they age they will need the coverage the plan provides later on.
"Single" women are diverse bunch
Although unmarried women are, technically, "single," in thi s day and age, it's possible to be unmarried and still have a permanent partner. A recent study has found distinct spending patterns between this group and "solo" singles. "Coupled" singles spend more money on themselves, and more time on their appearance, according to a nationwide survey of 500 American women, conducted by New York-based researcher Ethel Klein, publisher of EDK Forecast newsletter. According to the survey, coupled singles spend more money on clothes, are more likely to wear makeup on a daily basis, are more concerned about their weight, and are generally more relaxed about their spending than single women without partners. They also say they're happy: nearly 70% of coupled singles think they have happier and more satisfying lives than their mothers'.
From a marketing perspective, single women with partners are willing and able to spend money on looking good and staying thin. Specifically:
- Almost 40% said they exercise to lose weight, compared with less than 30% of all women. About a third would buy exercise clothes to spur themselves to work out, compared with only 18% of solo singles.
- More than a third spent more than $75 on their last dress, compared to only a quarter of solo singles.
- Almost two-thirds (63%) of coupled singles wear makeup every day, although 57% of solo singles also did.
- About 60% said if they won $500 in the lottery, they'd spend, not save, the money. About 40% of solo singles said they would spend it.
Biz, government buying more - from fewer
Business and government are growing, but they're buying from fewer suppliers. Organizations bought more than $7.7 trillion in goods and services in 1992, according to Cleveland-based Penton Research Services' third annual analysis of business and government purchases. Businesses accounted for the lion's share of the spending, at almost $7.2 trillion, up 3.7% from the year before. Downsizing has caused firms to contract out for many goods and services they used to produce internally, according to Penton Research Services director Ken Long.
Business and especially government spending has risen more than 50% in the past 10 years. However, both groups have reduced the number of suppliers by 1.6% over the same period. Another survey found that 90% of purchasing executives at Fortune 1,000 companies plan to use fewer suppliers in the year 2000. Long says business and government are seeking to establish long-term partnerships. Suppliers' best bet is to concentrate on quality and customer service to lure these big customers. The findings are outlined in a series of Penton Research Overview Reports. Penton Research is a division of Penton Publishing.