Sneak Peak: 2008 Survey of Buying Power
July 14, 2008
The mother lode of data is back—retooled and better than ever
By Mike McCue and Jeremy Cohen
A lot can happen in three years' time, and never did that statement prove truer than in the period spanning 2005 to the present. Just ponder the following facts:
• The cost of gas has skyrocketed from its 2005 average of $2.27 a gallon, at press time careening toward the $5 barrier.
• In the past three years alone, food prices worldwide have increased an astounding 83%.
• In the wake of the subprime mortgage meltdown, more than one million homes in the U.S. are now in foreclosure.
• Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' population is now approximately two-thirds that of its former number.
• Increased awareness of environmental issues has led to a spike in green product sales—currently in the neighborhood of $209 billion, and predicted to reach $400 billion by 2010.
• On the subject of all those dollars, our currency's value was last spotted somewhere in the vicinity of Antarctica.
The period from 2005 to 2008 was also marked by one very noticeable absence—that of the Survey of Buying Power, the much-heralded compendium of nationwide consumer data published annually by S&MM. Thankfully, the Survey's hiatus is coming to an end, as the 2008 edition is scheduled to be available in August.
And it will be a Survey unlike any you've seen before. Having undergone the most dramatic makeover in its 80-year history, no longer is the Survey a standalone print publication, but an exclusively online product with customized search and report capabilities. Nonetheless, the information it contains will be instantly familiar to longtime S&MM readers.
As with its predecessors, the 2008 Survey features comprehensive statistics, rankings and projections for every county and media market within the United States. These include effective buying income (EBI, a measure of disposable income) and the buying power index (BPI, a measure of spending power based on EBI, population and retail sales). The digital format allows you to customize searches by demographic categories, including age, race, city, county and state.
Rankings are divided by Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), geographic areas delineated by the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as television or broadcast markets established by Nielsen Media Research. All data was provided by market research leader Claritas, one of S&MM's sister companies under The Nielsen Company umbrella.
Taken together, the information presented in the Survey of Buying Power paints the most comprehensive picture of present-day consumer demographics available, making it an invaluable aid in the development of corporate sales and marketing strategies, as well as a critical resource for realtors, media buyers and franchise companies.
But you don't have to take our word for it. Accompanying this article are testimonials from several of your peers—among them two recent S&MM cover story subjects—all forward-thinkers who fully grasp the Survey's potential. Ultimately, your bottom line will thank you for following their lead.
Editor's Note: The 2008 Survey of Buying Power will be available for a subscription price of $99, $199 or $299. For more details, log onto www.surveyofbuyingpower.com.
A Whirlpool of Anticipation
As a leader in our category, trade customers expect us to bring them market-level consumer insights they can use to help make successful business decisions—decisions that benefit the consumer, the trade and Whirlpool. By being more knowledgeable about local marketplaces with respect to data, such as size of the appliance industry and consumer demographics, Whirlpool can help tailor programs, advertising/promotions and recommended product selections to specific local markets. No longer is a cookie-cutter national program or plan to sell recommendations meaningful or necessary to our trade base, unless it makes sense in their MSA and is supported by facts.
As a leading supplier, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to identify best-in-class consumer insights that lead to revenue-generating actions that drive mix, delivering innovation to the consumer and meeting the needs for robust long-range planning. This type of information will help us do that.
—Sam Abdelnour
Vice President of North American Sales,
Whirlpool
Stunning Study
Everyone's market is more dynamic than it was even just a few years ago. The rate of change is increasing, and whether you're B2B or B2C, you need to understand the shifts in your value chain. Having deep demographic data allows you to do a value chain analysis, all the way down to the end user.
What makes this survey different, however—and this is the reason that it belongs on everyone's reference shelf—is that it is both detailed and comprehensive. It provides a deep dive on the exact information you are looking for, but it also shows you a whole world of potential markets you might not have even thought of.
For example, let's say you're trying to reach young parents. There are places you can go to get detailed data on that specific group; the problem is that it won't show you where your untapped markets are. Are young parents your only market? What about young grandparents? The key to creating organic growth is asking yourself, "I know who my target group is, but what about the adjacent markets? Is there a great opportunity out there that I simply haven't tapped yet?" If you're looking for new hunting grounds, this is an incredible tool.
For marketers looking to drive growth, just having all of these facts in one place, logically catalogued and arrayed in thoughtful perspective, will trigger ideas and ways to segment you might not have thought about, new fields to play in and hunting grounds to explore, new pockets of customers who might be your next big opportunity. This resource is a key addition to your "Where do I get new ideas?" toolbox.
—Ralph Oliva
Executive Director,
Institute for the Study of Business Markets
Consumer Consensus
With annual U.S. household population growing at less than 1%, marketers need to look for those markets and/or population targets that provide faster growth opportunities. Three such population segments are aging, ethnic and affluent consumers. Within ethnic populations, African-Americans, Asians and Hispanic populations are the growth drivers. However, differences in buying and shopping patterns (based on country of origin) requires concentration of selling efforts within specific U.S. cities.
The Survey of Buying Power is a terrific source document to identify the best U.S. cities to reach aging, ethnic and affluent populations. In addition to providing rankings of household spending power as measured by their Effective Buying Income (EBI) statistic, the report provides insights into those locations with high spending across key retail segments. Linking these insights with more granular consumer and shopper insights available from The Nielsen Company enables marketers to assemble business plans that can be made actionable across markets and retail stores.
—Todd Hale,
Senior Vice President,
Consumer & Shopper Insights,
Nielsen Consumer Panel Services
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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