Wealthy

Pay attention to "upscale Latinos," says Nielsen, calling them "the most influential segment since the baby boomers." In partnership with the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), Nielsen has released some data concerning this demographic, which accounted for 29% of the Hispanic population last year but an outsized 37% of its total spending power. Defined as Hispanic households earning between $50k and $100k in annual income, these Latinos tend to be fairly young, with three-quarters of them under the age of 45. Read more »

Tablet adoption is rising quickly, and has reached majority penetration in certain segments of the population, according to [pdf] results from a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. In the latest survey fielded last month, Pew found 34% of American adults reporting ownership of a tablet, almost double the 18% adoption rate it found in a survey fielded in April 2012. Looking at the demographics of tablet ownership, the latest study finds that adoption spikes in the 35-44 age bracket, and appears to rise alongside educational attainment and household income level. Read more »

61% of American cell phone owners can be classified as smartphone owners, according to a new study [pdf] from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. That's slightly higher than a recent comScore estimate of 58% mobile market penetration (though that was in the 13+ population, rather than the adult population), and leads the researchers to note that it means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone owners. The study notes that smartphone ownership is higher among younger age groups, and similar increases within each group alongside household income level. Read more »

3 in 4 American adults report having noticed billboard (static or digital), transit or street-level advertising in the past month, finds Arbitron in its 2013 "Out-of-Home Advertising Report," and that rises to 84% among those who have driven or ridden in a vehicle. Among adults who have viewed a billboard or other out-of-home media in the past month ("OOH media viewers"), many have taken a range of online and offline responses, ranging from watching an advertised TV show to visiting an advertised website. Read more »

Consumers like rebates and are willing to go out of their way to get them, finds parago in its 3rd annual Shopper Behavior Study. 83% of respondents said they like to find rebates when shopping in-store, and the same percentage said that a discount via rebate is attractive when shopping online. 73% also believe that rebates provide a larger cost savings than other promotions, and a majority would prefer a rebate over a less attractive instant discount. That is, 65% would choose a $100 rebate over a $75 instant discount, and 74% would take a $30 rebate over an $18 instant discount. Read more »

56% of consumers say price is the primary influencer of their purchase decision, making it a far more influential driver than quality (17%), brand (17%), store (7%), or loyalty program (3%), according to survey results from parago's 3rd annual Shopper Behavior Study. But the importance of price declines as income levels increase, with brand and quality becoming more influential factors. Indeed, among those with incomes of more than $200,000, a plurality 38% say that brand is their primary purchase driver, followed by quality (28%) and then price (17%). Read more »

Graduation season is here, and Americans will shell out $4.6 billion to reward high school and college seniors, per results from a survey conducted for the NRF by BIGinsight. Gift-givers will spend about $94 on average, or $49 per recipient, down from last year's $100 average. Unlike other events and holidays tracked by the NRF, which have seen increases in spending this year, total projected spending on graduation gifts this year is down from last year's forecast of $4.7 billion. Read more »

Wealthy consumers are as likely to make purchases in-store as online, and few have embraced showrooming, loosely defined as the practice of checking out a product in-store before buying online. According to new research from the Luxury Institute, 78% of wealthy consumers (earning at least $150,000 a year) had bought something in a store in the previous 12 months, and 77% had ordered something online via computer. Only 1 in 4 reported buying online after checking out merchandise in-store (the study did not mention the use of a mobile device in-store). Read more »

The influence of mobile devices on local content continues to grow, details the Local Search Association in a new study [pdf] prepared using comScore data. According to the study, 48% of mobile phone users accessed local content in December 2012, up from 42% a year earlier. And that figure should only grow alongside rising smartphone penetration: smartphone users were more than 5 times as likely as non-smartphone users to access local content (77% vs. 14%). In fact, a significant 24% of traffic to online directories and other local resources came from mobiles and tablets in December 2012, quadruple the 6% share from a year earlier. Read more »

87% of Mass Affluents (current investors with $100,000 - $1 million in assets, excluding the value of their homes) have used social media in the past year, with about three-quarters using Facebook, half using LinkedIn, and roughly one-quarter on Twitter, per results [download page] from a study conducted by LinkedIn in partnership with Cogent Research. Almost 40% of Mass Affluents report using social media for discovery (21%) or consideration (32%) of financial companies: interestingly, they're more likely to learn about financial information through an ad or brand content than through an individual. Read more »