Holiday season survey found status Quo
More than half (58 percent) of consumers surveyed prior to the holiday season said that they expected to spend about the same amount of money as they did in 1996 on holiday purchases. Twelve percent said they expected to spend more than they did in 1996, while slightly more than one-quarter (26 percent) anticipated spending less. As in previous years, the majority of consumers (75 percent) planned to head off to the discount department stores to purchase their holiday gifts. These are some of the major findings cited in the fourth annual International Mass Retail Association (IMRA) Gallup survey, sponsored by Visa USA.
According to the "1997 IMRA Holiday Shopping Study," the amount consumers planned to spend on gifts on average in 1997 was $813 per family, compared to the 1996 average of $806. The product category most frequently identified by consumers for their increased spending was casual clothes, with toy buying remaining at the same rate as 1996. Continuing a trend from 1996, large household items, computer hardware, home furnishings, hardware and small household/kitchen appliances were the product areas where respondents reported the biggest anticipated decline in spending.
Three-fourths (75 percent) of all consumers surveyed expected to make their Christmas purchases at the discount department stores, continuing a steady trend since 1994. Only 49 percent of shoppers planned to shop at department stores, reporting a decrease of 6 percent from 1996, and only 23 percent of the respondents planned to make purchases from non-store retailers, a decrease of 2 percent from 1996. On the other hand, 43 percent of consumers planned to shop at category-dominant stores - an increase of 3 percent over 1996.
In a poll of its retail members, IMRA listed some of the hot toy products to be purchased during the 1997 holiday season as Interactive Barney, Sing and Snore Emie, Holiday Barbie, Hot Wheels, Star Wars Collectibles and Sesame Street products, to name a few. In the apparel categories, consumers were expected to purchase blazers, jerseys, blouses, sweaters and polar fleece jackets. Jewelry, power tools, bath sets, ice cream makers, animal slippers, and fitness equipment were also expected to be hot product
categories.
More than a third of all respondents (35 percent) planned to complete their holiday shopping in the first two weeks of December, while 23 percent stated that they shop for Christmas throughout the season. Fourteen percent of shoppers planned to complete their holiday shopping in the last two weeks of December, while 11 percent said they would complete their shopping during the last two weeks of November.
Respondents who expected to spend less compared to 1996 were those consumers with household incomes of more than $50,000 (-3 percent) and 18-34-year-olds (-4 percent). Among those consumers who expected to spend more compared to last year were individuals 55 years or older (+3 percent).
The IMRA/Gallup survey was conducted during October 1997 and is based on a random telephone poll of 1,009 adult consumers nationwide.
What is the most cost-efficient way to communicate with business decision-makers?
Personal sales calls are the. most expensive way for a business-to-business firm to communicate with customers and prospects. According to a Penton Research Services analysis of cost figures for various business marketing tools, the average cost per contact ranges from a low of $0.32 for an ad placed in a specialized business publication to $277.00 for an industrial sales call, each in-person visit costing over 800 times more than a specialized business publication contact. Penton Research Services, Cleveland, is the research arm of Penton Publishing, a business media company.
The average cost per contact for other marketing tools: trade shows, $162.00; telemarketing, $31.16; business letters, $13.60; direct mail, $1.68; and the Internet, $0.98. "Business marketers need to keep in mind how costs escalate as communication becomes more personal and personnel-intensive," says Ken Long, director of Penton Research Services.
"Business publication advertising can boost the effectiveness of more expensive marketing tools by helping pre-sell prospects and keep current customers sold."
Research shows that sales reps at fast-gowing firms recognize the role that advertising plays in their success. A study conducted by Gordon & Associates found that 75 percent of the salespeople at companies with a big increase in sales over the last year feel that advertising supports their selling efforts, compared to just 40 percent of the reps at companies with a big decrease in sales.
Penton Research Services compiled cost figures from a variety of sources, including Data & StrateNes Group (industrial sales calls), Exhibit Surveys (trade shows), The Business Marketing Notepad (telemarketing), Dartnell (business letters), and Alpert O’Neil Tige & Company (direct mail). Internet cost per contact was estimated by dividing the average cost per viewer for a banner linked to a target ad/Web site, calculated by Focalink Communications, by 4 percent, the average percent who click on a banner the first time they are exposed to it, according to a DoubleClick/KRC Research & Consulting study. Penton Research Services computed the cost per contact for specialized business publications by dividing the page rate for a six-time, four-color insertion in 25 Penton magazines by the estimated number of individuals reached by the average one-page, four-color ad.
These and other research findings are outlined in a series of 80+ PRO (Penton Research Overview) Reports.
Consumers dominate paging
"PageTrac ’97," a study by the Strategis Group, a Washington, D.C., telecommunications consulting firm, reveals a radical shift in the customer composition of the paging industry. Over the past five years, the number of personal paging users gew from 4 million to more than 21 million.
"It is no surprise that subscriber growth is being fueled by consumer adoption," says John Zahurancik, paging analyst for the Strategis Group. "However, the pace of change from paging as a business tool to paging as a personal communications device has been incredible."
While the number of intense business users gew from 9.2 million to 12.5 million between 1993 and 1997, the percentage of total users with little or no business usage of their pager expanded from 23 percent in 1993 to 46 percent in 1997. In addition, almost 70 percent of new paging users are personal paging users.
"PageTrac ’97" also finds that personal paging users are much younger than traditional business subscribers. Half of personal users are under the age of 29, compared to only 18 percent of business users. While carriers and manufacturers are currently targeting the teenage market segment, this data indicates huge gowth and potential among twenty-something consumers.
As consumers continue to dominate the expansion of the industry, operators face new opportunities for brand differentiation of paNng services. Although 44 percent of all users do not know who they purchase paging services from, personal paging users are much more likely to know the name of their provider than business customers. Since 92 percent of personal users pay for their own service, they are more involved in the selection of the operator and in the choice to continue service.
Most welcome government control of Internet
Despite the fact that 29 percent, or nearly one-third, of all Americans access the Internet, four of five say they are concerned about what can be found, and who might find it, while cruising the Information Superhighway.
In a nationwide telephone survey of a random sample of Americans ages 18 and older conducted by Chilton Research Services, Radnor, Pa., 80 percent of respondents answered "Yes" when asked, "Do you think that the government should take steps to control access to pornogaphic or sexually explicit material on the Internet to protect children and teens under 18 years of age?"
A significantly higher percentage of women than men favored government intervention. More than 88 percent of women invite censorship or some other action, while 71 percent of men feel such steps are warranted. Respondents were similarly divided by economic and education levels. In all demographic categories a resounding majority wants to limit youngsters’ access to sexually explicit material on the Internet, but some groups feel more strongly than others. For instance, among households with incomes below $35,000 annually, 85 percent want Uncle Sam to step in. Among respondents with household incomes above $50,000 the percentage drops to 71 percent. Similarly, nine in 10 respondents with a high school diploma or less said the government should control access, while seven in 10 who had at least attended college want such action taken.
In addition to worrying what their children might see on the Internet, Americans worry about what others might be able to learn about their private lives. Better than five of every six respondents (84 percent) said they are concerned about unauthorized or illegal access to personal and financial information through the Internet. A solid majority (65 percent) of all respondents said they were "very concerned," while another 19 percent admitted to being "somewhat concerned."
Fewer than 10 percent of respondents were "not at all concerned." Those with less than a high school education and those over 65 years of age expressed less concern, possibly because these goups are not as likely as others to use the Internet.
The Chilton EXPRESS telephone omnibus survey was conducted among a sample of 1,000 American men and women ages 18 and older, between April 16 and April 20, 1997. The margin of error is +/-3 percent.
Shoplifting, employee theft and worthless checks top supermarket losses
Shoplifting and employee theft are still the most common causes of theft, costing the supermarket industry more money each year, according to the seventh annual "Security and Loss Prevention Issues Survey." Conducted by Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and sponsored by Checkpoint Systems, the national survey questioned 74 FMI member companies who collectively operate more than 11,000 supermarkets.
Supermarket companies apprehended approximately 252,264 shoplifters in 1996, which averages about 41 incidents per store. The average value of the recovered merchandise exceeded $8.6 million, and the items included cigarettes (41 percent) and health and beauty care items (36 percent).
FMI members in the survey reported an average of 2.8 incidents of detected employee theft per store, resulting in a total of 18,054 detected incidents. The average value of cash and merchandise recovered per incident was $175.14. Forty-four percent of the detected incidents occurred at the checkout, and approximately 23 pement occurred in the sales and service areas.
"Clearly, high-tech security measures such as electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems and closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems are being used effectively to combat internal and external thefts in the supermarket industry," says Charles I. Miller, vice president of loss prevention services for FMI.
In addition, the survey reports that worthless checks, robberies and burglaries are serious loss prevention concerns. In 1996, worthless checks were responsible for a total net loss of more than $111 million, with an average of $70.30 per check and an average loss of $1.7 million per company.
This total net loss is up from the $70 million lost in 1995. Companies that experienced robberies - approximately 73 percent of the respondents - lost an average of $2,547.12 per robbery. About 50 percent of the robberies in 1996 occurred between Friday and Sunday, 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. Handguns were used 88.9 percent of the time. According to the survey, one employee was killed during robberies in 1996. This survey also contains information on how drug testing, theft hotlines and preemployment testing or intewity testing can help prevent company theft. The report also summarizes the impact of targeted loss prevention prowarns on shrinkage rates.
Fax machines appearing in more homes
Nearly 15 percent (14.9 percent) of U.S. households now have fax machines, according to a recent national survey by Decision Analyst, Inc., Arlington. Texas. In its June 1997 survey of 6,490 households, Decision Analyst found that the number of homes with fax machines increased more than four percentage points since a similar survey was conducted during the first quarter of 1996. In that survey, 10.6 percent of respondents said they had home fax machines.
"The growing popularity of home fax machines is somewhat surprising. We normally think of fax machines as primarily for business purposes," says Jerry W. Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Decision Analyst, Inc. "The growing home use of fax machines indicates that many Americans are operating businesses from their homes or conducting business from home. It may also reflect the growing number of PCs with built-in fax capability."
Decision Analyst found that fax machines are most common in households headed by consumers 18 to 34 years old (where 18.6 percent of households own fax machines). They are used least often in households headed by consumers 55 or older (9.3 percent of households). Fax machines are most common among households with annual earnings of $50,000 or more (24.1 percent ownership level). Among households with lower incomes (under $30,000), only 6 percent of homes have fax machines.
The national survey of home fax machines has a marg-in error of +/-l percent.
Infomercials unpopular but effective
A national study by St. Louis, Mo.-based Aragon Consulting Group’s research division indicates that nearly two-thirds (65.8 percent) of all Americans have watched an infomercial; however, nearly 86 percent of these infomercial viewers do not report an increased interest in viewing infomercials as a result of having seen one.
"And although these people have seen infomercials, our findings show that only 11.8 percent of the viewers watch them from becoming to end before deciding to make a purchase," says Vicki Savala, senior vice president of Aragon Consulting Group. "In fact, within 15 minutes of tuning into an infomercial, we found that more than half of the viewers say they are ready to tune back out."
Young, single people appear to have the highest propensity for watching infomercials, Savala says, noting that 18.4 percent of people age 18 to 34 say they might watch an entire infomercial, compared to 9.1 percent of people age 35 to 54, and 11.2 percent of those age 55 and older.
"And once an infomercial has reeled in a viewer, the likelihood that the individual will buy the product is fairly high - 30 percent of people who say they have watched an infomercial also say they bought the product being promoted on the show," says Savala. "Even so most buyers are not frequent purchasers."
The Aragon data shows that more than 75 percent of people who have purchased an item from an infomercial say they do so less than five times a year. And the most frequently purchased items are products for health and beauty products.
Almost 62 percent of people surveyed say the quality of merchandise sold on infomercials is on a par with that of products sold in retail stores; however, 26.4 percent say they expect to find items of higher quality in retail stores. Less than 6 percent say that merchandise sold in catalogs is of higher quality.
"However, the majority of consumers would not go so far as to say that products sold through infomercials are a better value than those sold in stores," says Savala. Forty-eight percent of those who participated in the study disagree with such a statement.
"Our research indicates that convenience drives consumer behavior when it comes to television shopping," Savala says. Nearly a fourth of consumers believe shopping from the sofa is a time-saver. Another 16.2 percent of consumers say they like the fact that they do not have to leave home to make their purchase; 8.9 percent say it’s advantageous because they can shop any time; and 5.7 percent say such shopping is simple and convenient.
However, consumers also say there are some disadvantages associated with purchasing items sold via an infomercial. Chief among them is uncertain product quality. In addition, 19.3 percent of consumers agree that they like to inspect a product before purchasing it; and nearly half of the respondents in the Aragon study also indicate that infomercial delivery charges are expensive.
A national random sample of 398 was drawn in the spring of 1997 to complete Aragon’s research, which produced results within a +/-5 percent margin of error.