KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER

Summer 2001

New American Attitudes
Where are Americans now? They have moved back to tempered confidence, a back-to-basics attitude, and core values. The chart below summarizes this new attitude.

Daily E-Commerce
E-commerce sales are higher on weekdays compares to weekends. Below is a chart showing sales by day.

Multigenerational Relationships
Because people now live longer, relationships among the generations within a family have become longer and, as a result, more important. The chart below shows today's five types of relationships between older parents and their adult children..

While income level, age or gender of the adult child does not affect this breakdown, race and ethnicity do. Blacks and Hispanics are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have Obligatory relationships with mothers, and blacks are less likely than whites to have Detached relationships with mothers.

Census Shows Changes in Family Structure
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of less-traditional families grew at a faster pace than the number of married couples and the population as a whole. The following chart gives the percentage changes.

Generations Have Different Work Priorities
From the Matures to Generation Y, differences abound in how Americans view their current work situation and opportunities for improvement. The chart below shows priorities by generation.

Working On Vacation
American workers are finding it hard to get away from it all. Last summer, an overwhelming majority (83%) stayed in contact with their office when vacationing for seven or more days. Not all of them did so willingly; see below for details.

Because professionals are so overworked, 18% do not use all their vacation days, 34% have no downtime at work, 32% eat lunch while working, 32% do not go outside the office all day, and 17% say that work causes them to lose sleep.

Lose Trust; Lose Business
The majority of consumers (82%) have stopped using a company's products or services when their trust in the company was broken. During 2000, 59% of consumers report that they stopped buying products or services from a company, 46% bought a competitor's products and service, and 25% told family and friends not to buy from a company. Only 15% of consumers wrote a company about their dissatisfaction.

Employers Want Out of Healthcare
A majority (54%) of companies that provide health coverage to their workers say they would support legislation to provide tax credits to individuals for the purchase of insurance. One in five companies (22%) are currently considering a defined contribution strategy. The main reasons for favoring this strategy include controlling costs (85%), giving control of healthcare to employees (70%), and limiting legal liability (30%).

Taste Over Health Benefits
Fewer food shoppers are willing to compromise taste for health benefits these days. They are instead, opting for good tasting foods and nutrients that help their bodies function better. The percentage of people who believe that healthful foods taste better fell eight points in the past decade to 27%. Those who "rarely" or "never" give up good taste for health benefits grew 12 points to reach 45%. Manufacturers are finding higher demand for foods for which they advertise the positive nutritional benefits; foods that focus on the negatives of nutrition (low fat, fat-free) are losing ground.

Profile of the Typical Internet User
On average, an internet user has five sessions per week spending a total of nearly three hours online. See the chart below for details on how the typical user spends his or her connection time.

Survivors Get Serious About Health
According to Health Care News, most survivors of serious illness become more focused on staying healthy. Majorities get regular preventive care (79%), eat a healthy diet (70%), and obtain information about specific diseases (67%). Many are also better at getting regular exercise (42%), drinking or smoking less (39%), and controlling their weight (36%).

Bullets

• The total value of trade delivered by truck between the United States and Canada during 1999 was $242,000,000,000. The number of trucks that crossed the border in both directions that year was 3,428,151.

• For teenagers with new driver’s licenses, the crash rate per 100 drivers is 5.9 in the first month and 3.4 in the second month. During the subsequent 10 months, the rate ranges from 1.3 to 3.0.

• American shoplifters steal more than $25 million worth of goods from retailers each day. On average, they are caught once every 49 times they steal.

• Football is Americans’ favorite (28%) spectator sport. It is followed by basketball (16%), baseball (12%), auto racing (6%), golf (4%) and figure skating (4%).

• U.S. businesses spent $26.9 billion on merchandise and travel items for motivational purposes during 2000. Incentive programs for sales personnel and dealers accounted for nearly two thirds; 16% was for consumer award programs.

• Eight percent of adults and 12% of teens use the internet for spiritual purposes.

• Households headed by blue-collar workers are the fastest-growing online segment. The number jumped 52% to 9.5 million between March 2000 and March 2001. The second fastest segment, households headed by homemakers, grew 49% to reach 2.4 million.

• Jury awards for product liability suits rose 44% between 1998 and 1999. They have jumped a total of 228% since 1997.

• Consumers will spend 11% more for the same product when they shop in a landscaped area than when they shop in a venue without greenery.

• One in four Americans (26%) can speak a language other than English well enough to carry on a conversation. Spanish (55%) is the most popular language, followed by French (17%), German (10%), Italian (3%) and Chinese (2%).

• Three out of four adults (75%) will stop to pick up a penny they find on the street.

• The National Sleep Foundation estimates that drowsy workers cost U.S. businesses $18 billion annually in missed workdays and lowered productivity. Each year, fatigued drivers cause 100,000 highway accidents.

• The percentage of people who think they can prevent cancer by taking the right actions dropped from 47% in 1990 to 39% in 2000.

• Most Americans (83%) want to see zones established for green space, farming and forest outside of existing cities and suburbs that would be off limits to developers. In comparison only 14% oppose this idea. The majority (77%) also want to see government use tax dollars to buy land for more parks and open space and to protect wildlife.

• The proportion of American households’ budgets going towards transportation rose 8% from 1990 to 1998. The average American household now spends 18 cents of every dollar on transportation; 98% of this goes to purchase, operate and maintain automobiles.

• Adult per-capita spirits consumption grew 2% in 1999 to reach 6.71 liters. This is the first rise in per-capita consumption since 1978.

• The average American eats out 1.8 times a week. Around 25% say they never eat out during a typical week.

• In 1957, 19% of Americans said they had ever been stopped for speeding. A poll conducted during 2000 shows over one-half (58%) have received a speeding ticket.

• Hispanics account for 38% of spending on international long distance calls. Fifty-two percent of Hispanics make international calls, compared to just 13% of the rest of the population.

• The average American eats chicken 2.25 times each week or about 117 times per year.

• Eighteen million adults ages 18 to 34 live with their parents today. This is up from 12.5 million in 1970.

• Almost two-thirds (62%) of American adults have taken a trip to a small town or village in the U.S. during the past three years. Most trips (86%) were for leisure purposes. Activities included dining (70%); shopping (58%); visiting beaches, lakes or rivers (44%); and visiting historic sites (41%).

• Ninety-seven million Americans (75% of adults) go online to find healthcare information. This is up from 54 million in 1998. Only 16% go online “often” and most (30%) seek information “sometimes” or “hardly ever.”

• Americans spend an average of one hour per day (or two weeks each year) in the bathroom. Half (53%) spend some time reading, 47% engage in deep thought, and 33% talk on the telephone.

• Americans receive an average of 13 vacation days per year. Countries with more generous vacation policies include Japan (25), Canada (26), Great Britain (28), Brazil (34), Germany (35), France (37), and Italy (42).

• Around 43% of American adults purchased fine or costume jewelry last year, spending nearly $40 billion. Total shoppers by gender were 48% women and 36% men.

• Households with pets now number 63.4 million, up from 61.2 million in 1998. In total, there are over 350 million household pets in the U.S.

• Spending for prescription drugs increased 18.8% between 1999 and 2000 to reach $131.9 billion. Twenty-three of the “best sellers” accounted for 50.7% of the increase.

• Alcoholism affects 13% of Americans at some time in their lives. More than 50% of adults have had direct family experience with alcohol problems.

• During 1999, 600,000 Americans (29% of all who died that year) died while receiving hospice care, up from 540,000 in 1998.

• The American Heart Association estimates that one in five Americans (60.8 million people) has one or more types of cardiovascular disease.

• The average annual values of online purchases by category are $263 for electronics, $236 for clothing, $197 for food and beverages, $168 for toys, and $138 for health and beauty.

• One-third of adults age 18+ play computer games. Most (70%) play them at home; 14% do so at work.

• Seventy-five percent of mothers and 53% of fathers who own cellphones use them almost entirely for personal use.

• According to a Purdue University study, women are more likely to seek religious consolation when dealing with non-serious chronic conditions or with cancer. Men tend to seek religious consolation when trying to cope with a wide range of heath and situational problems such as depression and unemployment.

• Leisure travel accounts for 79% of online travel bookings. According to PhoCusWright, this segment of travel revenues will reach $20.2 billion by the end of the year, up from $13 billion in 2000.

• Almost all company web sites (98.0%) are used for sales and marketing. The most common uses are to motivate customers to contact the company offline (69.0%), take orders online (55.6%), and generate sales leads for staff (51.9%).