Aussies to spend summer staycationing

by Marketing ON 3 September 2009

More Australians will enjoy this summer in their own country instead of travelling abroad than last summer according to research from outdoor advertising operator APN Outdoor.

The survey of 500 Australians from across the country found that during the 2009/10 summer, 68% of people will take a summer ‘staycation’, choosing to spend their time off at home or away locally for a weekend – a 39% increase from summer 08/09 when 49% of people said they would be ‘staycationing’.

The ‘APN Outdoor Summer Research’ study also revealed that this year Australians will take less time off work, with 58% saying they would take less than one week compared to 41% last year.

All long holidays have declined compared to the summer of 08/09, with those taking one to two weeks dropping from 24% to 18%, two to four weeks from 25% to 15% and one month or more from 12% to 9%.

Paul McBeth, general manager of marketing for APN Outdoor, stressed that job security has most people planning much shorter holidays than ever before and they also plan on spending them domestically.

“Regardless of holiday intentions, Summer is much anticipated, not just for the sun and surf, but for the great mood it puts us in. During summer, consumers are in a more relaxed frame of mind and are keen to try new things, therefore it’s a great time to advertise, particularly when more Australians than in the previous summer will be staying local for their summer holidays due to the impact of the global financial crisis,” explained McBeth.

According to the report, respondents said that regardless of whether they’d be working or not, they would spend more time at the beach (65%), hanging out with friends (65%), shopping (33%), going out for dinner (30%) or going for walks (73%).

Confidence slumps in Australian workforce

by Marketing ON 23 April 2009

Australians’ job confidence has slumped in the past six months, with just 27% of Australian consumers saying local job prospects in the next 12 months looked good or excellent (down 36 points vs October 2008), according to Nielsen’s latest Consumer Confidence and Sentiment survey.

Job security ranked as the second highest concern for Australians behind the economy. (See Chart 1).

The Nielsen survey, conducted in April 2009, shows Australian consumer confidence levels have also dropped to new lows in recent months, with Nielsen’s latest Consumer Confidence Index showing a 12 points drop to 92 since October 2008. Despite the drop, however, Australians’ confidence levels were still strong compared to many other countries – 14 points higher than the Asia Pacific index and 15 points higher than the global index – and Australia ranked seventh overall on Nielsen’s global Consumer Confidence Index.

Although Australians were concerned about the job market, they were not so worried about their finances – more than half of Australians (56%) said the state of their personal finances over the next 12 months was excellent or good.

Surprisingly, nearly half of Australians (46%) said it was a good time to buy the things they want and need over the next 12 months, up five points since October 2008. Globally, just 33% of consumers saw it as a good time to shop and only 31% of Asia Pacific consumers said now was a good time to buy the things they need.

“Australians’ optimism that now is a good time to spend money is perhaps reflective of aggressive discounting and promotional activity being undertaken by retailers, coupled with the Government’s recent tax bonuses,” noted Luke Starick, director, Measurement Science, The Nielsen Company.

As interest rates continue to fall, Australians appear to be less concerned with paying off their debts and more interested in bolstering their savings accounts. More than two fifths of Australians (45%) said they were putting any spare cash they had into savings while 42% were using spare cash to pay off debts, credit cards and/or loans. (See Chart 2).

“For the first time since Nielsen has been conducting its Consumer Confidence Survey, Australians are not more interested in reducing their debts than saving their money,” observed Starick. “However, we remain highly leveraged compared to most countries around the world In comparison to the 42 % of Australians who were using their spare cash to pay off debts, credit cards and loans, just 28% of consumers in the Asia Pacific and 32% globally were worried about reducing debt.”

The Australian technology retail sector has suffered as a result of the economic crisis – just 16% of Australians plan to purchase technology products in the next 12 months, compared to 22% across the Asia Pacific region and 21% globally.

Rocky stock markets have also scared off Australian investors – only 8% of Australians said they would utilise spare cash by investing in shares, which was six points lower than the Asia Pacific average and five points lower than global levels.

Consumers using wireless internet to consume media

by Marketing ON 13 March 2009

As Australian internet users hone their multi-tasking skills,
technology ownership continues to expand year-on-year, in particular
for products with wireless capabilities, according to internet
measurement company Nielsen Online’s Internet and Technology Report released at the start of the month.

Multi-tasking on the rise – Aussies clock up 89.2 hours’ media usage per week
Broadband reaches saturation as 97% sign up for fast speed internet

The Nielsen Online report shows that household ownership of desktop computers has declined by 10 points in the past 12 months while ownership of wireless technology such as laptops has jumped from 49% to 63% in 2008 and wireless LAN ownership is up more than 20 pts to 53%. (See Chart 1).

In addition, more Australians than ever before are signing up to broadband services – in 2007 84% of Australian internet users reported to have broadband access at home. In 2008 that figure reached 97%.

Tony Marlow, research director for Nielsen Online noted:

“As Australian internet users become increasingly less wired in the ways they access the internet, a greater focus is being placed on laptop-style computers rather than fixed desktops.”

“Looking ahead, we expect this trend to continue in 2009 and beyond, particularly for digital free-to-air TV, laptop computers and wireless LAN.”

The number of hours Australians spend consuming media also continued to climb in 2008, reaching 89.2 hours per week compared to 84.4 hours in 2007 and just 71.4 hours in 2006. New technology was the main driver of the increased consumption, with the amount of time spent online up from 13.7 hours in 2007 to 16.1 hours in 2008, while PC Video (video either downloaded or viewed on a computer) usage jumped from 2.5 hours to 4.6 hours, and video games usage was up from 4.6 hours to 5.4 hours. (See Chart 2).

This increase in consumption has lead to an increase in the amount of media multi-tasking undertaken by Australians – over three in five internet users (61%) watch television while online and half (50%) use the internet while listening to the radio. Of those consumers who report multi-tasking, the internet is most commonly cited as the primary focus.

“Given the average Australian is only awake for around 112 per week, it’s surprising just how many of those waking hours are dedicated to media consumption,” observes Marlow.

“We’ve seen some pretty extraordinary increases in the past few years, however, we would anticipate a levelling out in consumption hours over the next few years as Australians simply run out of hours in the day.”

The Nielsen report also reveals that mobile ownership has almost reached saturation point in Australia, with 92% now reporting to own a mobile phone. Overall device capabilities and use of a range of mobile functions such as GPS navigation, document reader and mobile internet has also seen an increase compared to 12 months ago, particularly for younger users (aged 16 to 29 years), although cost remains a key barrier for expanded mobile capabilities.

Brand survey shows who rules planet MySpace

by Marketing ON 25 February 2009

If MySpace were a planet, what would be its most popular brand?

This is what the MySpace Australia census reveals the brands of choice, offering insights into the habits the social networker’s cyber citizens.

The survey has reviewed the opinions and lifestyle preferences of over 2000 Australian MySpace users.

The survey showed that the three most popular luxury brands were Calvin Klein, Gucci and Chanel, with Nokia being voted the most popular mobile phone brand (iPhone only attracted 15% of the total votes).

The computer operating system of choice was PC followed by Mac. The most popular gaming console was PlayStation and Electronic Arts (EA) was voted best games maker, followed by Nintendo and Activision.

The top beer brand was Corona, the favourite chocolate bar Snickers Bar and the most popular soft drink was Coca-Cola.

Of the statistics, the survey also indicated that 47% of its cyber citizens would source their news online, cars would be the most popular form of transport and planet MySpace would be solar powered, with 44% of the nation’s citizens in favour of the power source.

Andrew Cordwell, director of sales, MySpace Australia explains, “The MySpace Top Brands Survey offers marketers unprecedented insights into the brand preferences and lifestyle choices of a new generation of cyber citizens. These upwardly mobile and highly social Australians are key brand influencers, using MySpace to connect with friends and family as well as engage with their cultural interests.”