An Overlooked Demographic

Anyone following news of the recent $365 million lottery winners got a clear picture of just how much America's demographics are shifting. Although the winners came from the heart of the country, Lincoln, Nebraska, the winners hailed from a variety of countries and ethnicities.

Demographic change continues to sweep the country, filtering into even the most traditional heartland areas.

It should be easy then for most of us to identify the important emerging population groups. Hispanics, Asians and the growing number of shoppers adding natural and organic foods to their diet are clearly leading the list of those growing in number. And many of us could identify the new product and store trends geared towards making shopping a more pleasant experience for these groups.

But throughout the country there is another group whose growing numbers bring a host of new realities to retailers and suppliers looking to meet their needs. And that also means new opportunities to build loyal customer relations.

Today, there are about 100 million Americans aged 15 or older who are single or unmarried. To make that enormous number even more important, these Americans head up nearly 53 million households or nearly half of all American homes. In comparison, Hispanics - whose growing numbers are widely documented - make up a population one-third as large.

Singles, or unmarrieds, can have an enormous impact on nearly every aspect of your company. The most obvious is the size of products that might have work wonderfully for the traditional family of four, which today is far less prevalent throughout the nation. Just as we no longer live in an Ozzie and Harriet society, neither should the products we sell serve only people in that demographic.

Some of the statistics about this growing group of shoppers might startle you both in terms of their numbers and their reach across the country. And as with any demographic group, understanding the many types of shoppers that fall into this segment is essential to any hope of success.

Consider the following:

Leveraging Technology to Understand Consumer Behavior:
A "Perfect Storm" for the Industry

As some of you may know, this marks my second career at ACNielsen. And one question clients and employees frequently ask is: "What is one of the biggest changes you have noticed in our industry?"

Perhaps not surprising, I think the biggest change here is the same one we are seeing everywhere: the enablement of technology. During the past five years, the terms "wi-fi", "blog", "time-shifting", "satellite radio" and "iPod" have become part of our lexicon. People are networked. News travels fast. Information does not stop. And data about most anything can be collected and reported.

While the speed of life continues to increase - in business as in personal life - we are also entering a period of technological change. Many of the processes and systems that currently manage business today are being stretched in ways we could not have imagined, and while some of it has helped us keep pace, much of it is starting to impact our industry. Consider the following:

Today, users of marketing and analytical information have become more technologically sophisticated than ever before. They have used available information and systems to dig deeper to find more answers. This has driven a need for more granularity in information. End users want unconstrained ad hoc access to information, with continually faster response times.

Also, growing complexity in data query and analysis has driven a significant increase in demands on the side of the information provider. This impacts historical data as well as current information, since trends are critical to marketers.

Third, there is an increased demand in how information needs to be delivered. Flexibility is key. Mobility is key. Clients need to get information whenever and wherever they may be. Bandwidth - the actual amount of time and space available for data to travel between points - is a major issue that often escapes the headlines, but it impacts the speed in which information is delivered.

Together, these elements have combined to create a technological "Perfect Storm." And it is having a major impact on our industry today. With the flood of information available, it has become literally impossible to stay on top of everything. The complexity and volume of information combined with the speed and availability of technology together have outpaced the ability of end users to receive efficient, meaningful information - without excessive processes and manual effort to manage the information.

Fortunately, the same elements that have helped bring on this storm of information overload can also help us weather and improve on the current state. At ACNielsen, we are in the midst of several major and significant technological changes that will keep us positioned as the industry leader in providing actionable information about consumers and the retail environment.

Our history shows that this can be done. We were the first in the industry to deliver tracking information electronically over the Internet. We were first to deliver a working web-based portal for collaboration and information sharing. And we have begun to integrate information from our sister companies, such as Spectra, BASES and Market Decisions as well as integrating client information such as shipments and financial data.

But the difficulty is in the details. For our clients to gain true insight, they don't need more information, they need the right amount of information at the right time, ready-made for decision-making. The granularity of the data is obviously critical - but it must be fit for action. (continued below)