Online America

American Demographics, March 1, 2001

Seasonal shopping patterns also reflect this unparallel universe between online and offline consumers. While brick-and-mortar stores record the lion's share of their sales during the Christmas season, most e-tailers operate at a steadier pace throughout the year. Less of a high in December. Less of a low in January. Indeed, computer e-tailers ring up more sales in August than December, and they name November as their worst month of the year. "There's less seasonality on the clicks side," says Mac Nair. "You just don't see the Christmas craziness in most retail categories online."

What analysts have noticed is that wired Americans are more likely to engage in two subjects online that remain verboten to discuss in polite company offline: sex and religion. While some may think that Esuperscript *Trade is a bigger draw than Jesus, religion actually has a larger online audience than many secular topics. A recent study by the Pew Internet project found that 21 percent of Web surfers, or about 20 million Americans, seek religious or spiritual information online. In comparison, only 18 percent of Internet users bank online, and just 15 percent visit auction sites. These spiritual seekers include a disproportionate number of women, Baby Boomers, and African Americans.

Greater numbers of Americans have more earthly interests in mind when they log on: the enjoyment of erotica. Media Metrix says that 30 percent of the Internet population visit adult entertainment sites each month, while Nielsen//NetRatings puts the figure at 23 percent - about 21 million Americans. Some 16 percent of those online even sneak peeks at adult sites at work, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Sports and humor sites remain more popular at the office, however, though that may be a function of workplace rules rather than a lack of prurient desires.

Even with the increasing presence of women on the Net, online sex is mostly a guy thing. Men make up 84 percent of the audience in the most popular adult site, cybererotica.com, and many are not the stereotypical lonely guys. The highest concentration hail from family PRIZM clusters like Kids & Cul-de-Sacs, God's Country, and Middle America. Contrary to the assumption that the number of online porn fans will decline as the number of women online grow and the novelty of seeing naked people on a desktop wears off, the total audience has remained relatively stable. Men continue to visit naughty-this-dot-com and hard-core-that-dot-com in ever increasing numbers.

TARGETING ONLINE LIFESTYLES FOR PROFIT

There are many ways to slice and dice a population, and some researchers have developed Web-only consumer segments to help corporate clients improve their techniques for customer relationship management. Last year, Harris Interactive produced a cluster system of "dot-shopper types" for ebates.com, highlighting six distinct consumer personalities. Among the types: Hunter Gatherers (married, middle-aged couples who compare products online but buy offline) and Hooked, Online and Single (upscale, single males who buy books, clothing, and computer software online). To make a Web site "stickier" for, say, Hunter Gatherers, Harris suggested featuring ads with endorsements such as "Rated #1 by ..." E-tailers were advised to develop new forms of entertainment to capture the jaded surfers from Hooked, Online and Single.