|
Put under the microscope, modern Australia reveals startling new population and consumer trends
- “Freemales”, “Spuds” and “Salary Miners” flex consumer muscle
- Unmarried women now outnumber married women
- Almost 25% of people now live in single-person dwellings
- Australia’s ethnic roots strengthening
- Retirement of baby-boomers en masse gathers pace
|
|
Sydney, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 – Unmarried women outnumber married women for the first time in 85 years, almost a quarter of Australians live in single-person dwellings and as many as half of all Australians now have one parent born overseas.
These are just some of the findings from Mosaic® 2008, a new analysis of the Australian population being launched this week by consumer data company Pacific Micromarketing that reveals startling shifts in our lifestyle, relationship and work patterns.
Based on the most recent Australian Census and other data sources, Mosaic 2008 is one of the most detailed pictures of population trends compiled yet to help business and Government anticipate consumer patterns and trends.
The analysis suggests “Freemales” (unmarried women), “Spuds” (people living in Single-Person Urban Dwellings) and “Salary Miners” (workers chasing high-paying jobs in boom mining towns) have emerged as influential new consumer groups.
Pacific Micromarketing General Manager, Graham Plant, said Mosaic 2008 revealed a modern Australia that was more textured and multi-layered than previously thought.
“Mosaic 2008 offers us new levels of insight into where Australians live and work, how much they earn and spend, what their family situation is and what they do with their spare time. It draws on richer data sources and drills down further – to the household level – than any other similar analysis,” Mr Plant said.
“Many of the new trends identified ask serious questions of businesses and government,” he said.
“For example, what does the rise of the ‘Spud’ mean for transport and utility service providers and grocery retailers, not to mention the energy-efficiency of our cities?
“In a shifting and fragmenting consumer landscape all enterprises need to work harder to understand their customers better. We believe the unique precision and insight by in Mosaic 2008 makes it the best tool for doing that,” Mr Plant said.
Mosaic 2008 is based on the global Mosaic consumer profiling platform, first developed in the UK in 1987 and now used in 64 countries around the world. In Australia, Mosaic 2008 updates a previous version completed five years ago, and uses 238 different variables to classify Australians into 11 broad
socio-economic “Groups” and 47 consumer “Types”.
New Australian consumer Types captured in Mosaic 2008 include:
- Home Entertainment: Blue-collar families living in older pockets of outer suburbs (4.2% of Australians)
- Same Old, Same Old: Low-income, non-metro homes accommodating older singles and couples (4.2%)
- Rural Lifestyles: High-value farms and smallholdings surrounding major urban centres (4.2%)
- Blue-collar Regeneration: Older tradesmen and labourers settling in low-priced regional areas (3.6%)
- Intercontinental Connections: Established Eurasian migrants in mid to outer suburban areas (3.1%)
- Informed Affluence: High-income families and singles in attractive middle suburbs (2.3%)
Mosaic 2008 also confirms Salary Miners - high-income younger households in remote mining communities - as an emerging economic force. With very high disposable incomes and low housing costs, this group now accounts for 0.6% of the population.
Among other trends revealed in Mosaic 2008:
- The rise of the “Spud” (single-person urban dwelling) phenomenon is likely to account for the biggest household demographic change over the next 20 years, posing challenges for service provision and energy efficiency.
- As half of all Australians now recording one parent born overseas, the proportion of these born in the UK has declined steadily and now at only 14%. Africa, India, Indonesia, Singapore and China are our fastest-growing sources of immigrants.
- The economic impact of the baby-boomers retiring en masse is looming closer, with the proportion of those aged 65+ expected double to 25% of the total population within 30 years.
- As well as being less likely to commit to marriage, women are having children later and having less. Estimates suggest up to 25% of women will remain childless.
Mr Plant said Mosaic 2008 was a platform from which marketers, retailer and other consumer-facing businesses and Government could plan for future consumer requirements and preferences.
“Companies should be planning products and services that their customers will want over the next decade, not what they wanted five years ago,” he said.
Issued by Sefiani Communications Group on behalf of Pacific Micromarketing.
About Mosaic®
First launched in the UK in September 1987 by Experian, and now used by over 64 countries, Mosaic is a highly sophisticated geo-demographic profiling tool used by business, government and non-profit organisations to guide planning, marketing and service delivery. Mosaic® 2008 Australia provides a detailed and comprehensive picture of the Australian consumer landscape. Offering detail down to the household level, it classifies the Australian population into 11 broad groups and 47 discrete ‘types’ reflecting the diversity and changing nature of the Australian population. Mosaic® is licensed in Australia by Pacific Micromarketing, a division of ASX-listed PMP Limited. Mosaic® 2008 is the fifth version of Mosaic® released in Australia. Mosaic users can integrate Mosaic data with proprietary or other acquired data platforms to enrich understanding of their customers.
About Pacific Micromarketing
Pacific Micromarketing is a customer insight, segmentation and analysis marketing company, specialising in surveying, recording and classifying data. Working for some of the country’s leading consumer-facing organizations – banks, telcos, energy providers, retailers – Pacific Micromarketing provides sophisticated tools to analyse customers, markets, market potential and resource allocation. Pacific Micromarketing remains at the forefront of analytics to ensure clients are able to access new customers whilst building stronger relationships with existing ones. These tools include Mosaic® and the BrandLeaders™ program. Pacific Micromarketing’s own proprietary data models have been used to enrich Mosaic® 2008.
About PMP Ltd
PMP Limited is Australasia’s leading integrated provider of consumer insight and printed communications solutions. An ASX Top 200 listed company employing more than 3,000 people in Australia and New Zealand, PMP specialises in the areas of data-driven market and customer analytics, marketing advisory services, creative and photographic services, digital pre-press, magazine, catalogue, directory, commercial and book printing, and letterbox and magazine distribution. Operating divisions include Pacific Micromarketing, PMP Micromarketing, PMP Digital Premedia, PMP Print, PMP Distribution, Gordon & Gotch and Griffin Press.
|
