Consumer Segments' Shopping Behaviors
According to Roper Starch Worldwide, consumers can be divided into six segments based on their personal values. These consumer segments are:

Online Branding
According to Dynamic Logic, Ad Relevance and 24/7 Media, certain characteristics determine whether an Internet banner advertisement will be successful. See the chart below for the four key elements.

Emotional Benefits Sought by Newspaper Readers
Research shows that Americans are looking for more than just news when they read a newspaper. The chart below explains the six distinct emotional benefits they hope to get from reading.

Single Women: Happy and in Control
Over four in 10 American women are single. So are 35% of women between the traditionally “most marriageable” ages of 25 and 55. This percentage more than doubled between 1963 and 1997. Researchers and sociologists say it is due to women’s growing ability to earn their own living and survive independently in the world.

Many women say their singlehood is not an outright rejection of marriage, but a refusal to bargain away valued parts of their personalities and lifestyles in exchange for marriage to a person who does not suit them. Some of these women say that the men they encounter have traditional expectations of women’s roles. Other women are wary of getting involved in the kinds of relationships they witness between their parents or married friends. The National Marriage Project reports that this increasing acceptance of singlehood among women is true across class distinctions.

Internet's Future Role in Finances
Today’s teens are swarming to the Internet for video games, music and other entertainment. Researchers expect that, once they have outgrown their teen preferences, the web will be an integral part of their lives. It will be natural for them to use the Internet to handle their financial matters. Already, one-third of teens with bank accounts transfer money over the Internet and 25% pay bills online. Of those with brokerage accounts, 55% trade stocks online.

Changes in Household Responsibility
How do American households currently divide the average 48 hours spent weekly on chores? Children take on six, husbands assume 10, and wives handle the remaining 32 hours.

It is no surprise that women still take on the largest responsibility, but there is one change to note. Kids of the millennium generation (born since 1982) are now maintaining family web sites and computerizing family financial records. And, generally, these kids like pitching in to help. According to Neil Howe, co-author of the book Millennials Rising, this cooperative attitude is the result of teamwork being emphasized in this generation’s educational settings. Despite their grumblings, these kids actually like the idea of helping their parents and yearn for the opportunity to make meaningful contributions.

E-mail Preferred as Communications Tool
Ninety-seven million Americans age 14+ are active e-mail users. Projections show that by 2003, this number will jump to 140 million. An “active” user is someone who sends or receives five or more e-mail messages each week.

Electronic mail appears to have a sense of urgency for users. Seventy percent say they look forward to checking their e-mail. For 40%, checking their e-mail is one of the first things they do in the morning; another 40% say it is one of the last things they do before going to bed.

E-mail is the preferred way to communicate for 51% of business associates. Among all Americans, e-mail is second only to the telephone as the preferred communication mode.

What Women Want in Healthcare Plans
The two major predictors of women’s satisfaction with their healthcare plans are preventive care and prescription benefits.

Thirty-one percent of women choose a plan on the basis of preventive care services compared to only 25% of men. The more preventive care services women are encouraged to utilize, the more likely they are to choose that healthcare plan. For example, 85% of women who are encouraged to use five or more preventive care services are likely to re-enroll in the plan.

Women (52%) are more concerned than men (44%) about a healthcare plan’s prescription coverage. Lower copayments are a major draw for 34% of women and 28% of men. Other key issues to women are the ability to obtain the medication that the doctor believes is best and the cost to enroll in the prescription plan. Among women who are very satisfied with their prescription coverage, over 80% are likely to re-enroll in their healthcare plans.

Adults Help Aging Parents
More than one-half (55%) of adults with a parent age 65+ report that the parent has at least one physical or emotional problem. Twenty-five percent say that their parent needs help in taking care of him- or herself. See the chart below for how many adult children regularly assist with health or financial decisions.

Bullets

• Americans buy an average of 4.6 movie tickets per person each year.

• There are an estimated 3,000 job-search web sites. However, only 4% of almost 2,800 Internet users recently surveyed online found their latest position via one of these sites.

• During August of 2000, the average Internet user spends 19 hours online while viewing an average of 703 different web pages.

• Fifty-five percent of working Americans would choose more money over having more personal time; 38% would choose time over money.

• Videogames are not appreciated by most: only 22% say they make life better and 47% believe they make life worse.

• The U.S. has 400 fertility clinics that provide assisted reproductive technology treatment to 1.4 million infertile couples at a cost of $2.25 billion. This reflects a 10.9% average annual growth rate since 1988.

• The median income for a four-person household is $49,500. Most Americans think that earning $63,000 is necessary to live comfortably; an income of $155,000 would make them “rich.”

• The average cost per sale when using a rented e-mail list for customer acquisition is $286.00. However, the average cost per sale to an existing customer list using e-mail is only $2.00.

• Health insurance premiums paid by employers are expected to increase 10%-13% in 2000/2001. Premiums also jumped in 1999/2000 (9.4%), 1998/1999 (7.8%) and 1997/1998 (3.7%).

• According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, newspaper revenues from classified advertising will surpass retail-generated advertising by 2002.

• The average monthly rate for basic cable service has grown from $16.78 in 1990 to $28.92 in 1999.

• The top five most active event sponsors during 2000 were Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T and Miller Brewing. These same companies also topped the list in 1999, the only difference was that Coca-Cola ranked higher than Pepsi-Cola.

• According to the National League of Cities, American cities and towns (54%) now choose tourism and entertainment as their top priority for enhancing the local economy. Civic leaders even place this ahead of manufacturing (47%) and retail/wholesale sales (40%).

• One in five (22%) Americans believe in witches. Men (24%) are more likely to believe than women (20%).

• Garlic consumption per capita grew to 3.1 pounds in 1999 — triple the 1989 consumption level. No other vegetable has undergone such phenomenal demand growth in the last 10 years.

• Each year, more than 13,000 campaigns for political office or ballot issues take place in the U.S.

• Cremation is chosen to dispose of human remains 26.2% of the time; up from 20.5% in 1994.

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25% of men and 14% of women age 65 or older work in nontraditional jobs, mostly as consultants and independent contractors.

• According to 33% of Americans, parents should, for the sake of the children, stay together in a bad marriage instead of divorcing. Only 21% of Americans felt this way in 1981.

• The average American household takes 6.4 weeks to use up a role of film. The most common reasons people take pictures are to preserve memories (94.5%), to share later with others (73.0%), and for pure enjoyment (44.6%).

• Charitable giving by individuals rose 7.2% from 1998 to 1999 to reach $143.7 billion.

• Seventy-three percent of Americans say that the Miss America Pageant holds little interest for them; only 7% are “very” or “extremely” interested.

• Fifty-five percent of men would prefer a good-looking woman as their bride over a wealthy one. Women are only slightly more likely to favor a wealthy mate to one who is handsome.

• Since 1987, the average workweek has increased from 41 to 47 hours — equaling one full month of work time per year.

• A recent survey of executives shows that 48% prefer to receive resumes via e-mail, up from 4% in 1998.

• Of approximately 1,700 commemorative stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service, only 133 of them honor women.

• Almost one-half (47%) of Americans say they are either “very” or “somewhat likely” to vote for Hillary Clinton if she runs for president in 2004 or 2008.

• Twenty percent of people age 4-70 watch television while working on the computer; 3% talk on the phone while on the computer.

• Teens (age 12-17) are the least likely online users to click on Internet ads. Their average click rate is 0.19%.

• A recent poll shows that 50% of parents feel their kids are doing better in school because of the Internet. Twenty-five percent of parents communicate with their teacher online.

• By 2004, Americans will spend more hours each year playing video games (161) and using the Internet (228) than they spend reading daily newspapers (147), books (92), and magazines (77).

• Smoking is banned in seven of 10 homes in the U.S.  Even 25% of smokers don’t allow smoking in their home or vehicle; one-half do not allow smoking in the presence of children.

• American women drank six and one-half alcoholic drinks per week in 1999. This number is expected to reach eight drinks per week by 2004.

• Hair loss affects approximately 35 million men and 22 million women. Consumers spend over $900 million each year trying to regrow hair.

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