Market Factoids You Can Use

We are starting a new page with useful market statistics that you can use in your business plan. If you have a useful stat, please email it to 'burke@jianusa.com' Thank you very much!

Automotive

In 2000, total retail sales of aftermarket accessories was $13.8 billion. - Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)

18.3 million motor vehicle crashes were reported in 2002*. These crashes resulted in 2.3 million injuries and 44,000 deaths—or about 120 deaths per day.

It is estimated that 90% of all motor vehicle crashes—about 16.4 million of those listed above—are attributable, at least in part, to driver behaviors.

The key behaviors covered are:

Speeding

Speeding is a contributing factor in crashes that kill approximately 12,000 people each year. Speeding reduces the time a driver has to avoid a crash and increases the likelihood and severity of the crash.

Aggressive driving

Operating a vehicle in a way that endangers other people and property—such as improper passing, weaving in and out of traffic, or following too closely—compromises the safety of both the driver and everyone around them.

Distracted driving

It only takes a second for a crash to happen. Distractions occur when drivers concentrate on something other than operating their vehicles—such as engaging in cell phone conversations.

Drinking

Last year, 17,401 people died in alcohol-related crashes. Alcohol was a contributing factor in 40% of all motor vehicle fatalities last year. Alcohol slows reaction time, decreases awareness, and impairs judgment.

Drowsy driving

Just like drugs or alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, and impairs judgment. Just like drugs or alcohol, it can be fatal when driving.

Failure to yield the right of way

One of the most common driver errors, failure to yield the right-of-way is not just a breach of driver etiquette—it's breaking the law.

Teenagers and driving

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for young adults between the ages of 16 and 24. More than 11,000 people aged 15- 24 were killed in crashes last year and 8,500 of these were drivers and passengers in vehicles operated by drivers aged 16-20. The dangerous mix of inexperience, distractions, peer pressure, and a tendency to underestimate risk are common factors in the 6.5 million crashes experienced by young adults each year.

Credit: http://www.nsc.org/nsm/index.cfm

National Safety Council promotes National Safety Month

Copyright ©1995-2004 All rights reserved

Books

In 2001, consumers spent $5.2 billion on 548 million adult books in the first half of the year (Adult Book Trends Update). Book clubs's market share was 22% almost equal to that of the chain stores. Independent bookstores captured 13.6% of consumer spending while web sites accounted for 7.5% and mass merchandisers 4.6%.

22% through chain stores and 13.6% through independents — hence, about 35.6% of books are bought via bookstores, but that still doesn't answer your question.

According to a recent survey, at least 35% of the U.S. population visit a bookstore at least once a month. In fact, Americans visit bookstores more often than any other type of store, except for the mass market chains (such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart) and grocery stores.

- John Kremer, editor, Book Marketing Update newsletter
author, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, Fifth Edition
Open Horizons, P O Box 205, Fairfield IA 52556-0205
641-472-6130; Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Fax: 641-472-1560; Web: http://www.bookmarket.com

Employment

Thursday, December 5, 2002

Tight Labor Market Coming
As economy picks up, worker shortage likely; surplus labor already vanishing.

By Stephen Taub

Beware of a coming talent war.


Incredible as it might seem, the job market is shaping up to be as tight -- or even tighter -- than it was during the tech boom of the late Nineties.

Despite a rising unemployment rate and scores of corporate layoffs, it turns out that there will likely be a shortage of available labor as the economy picks up. According to analysis conducted by consultancy Watson Wyatt, the amount of "surplus labor" available as the economy recovers is at the lowest level it has ever been over the past 10 recessions ( dating back to 1949).

The consulting firm defines surplus labor as the number of unemployed workers above a 4 percent unemployment rate (generally considered the "full employment" mark), plus new entrants to the workforce (such as recent college graduates) available over the 24 months following the low point of a recession.

The unemployment rate above the 4 percent full-employment mark was just 2 percent in February 2002, compared with 2.8 percent in 1990 and 6.8 percent in 1982.

In addition, about 2.9 million Americans were unemployed in February 2002, which Watson Wyatt assumed to be the low point of the current economic downturn.

That number is well below the number of unemployed during recent recessions. For example, 7.5 million were unemployed at the low point of the 1982 recession, and 3.5 million were unemployed in the 1990 downturn.

In fact, the current number of unemployed looks even more modest relative to the overall size of the workforce given that the size of the workforce has grown steadily over the years, notes Watson Wyatt.

The gap grew even wider when Watson Wyatt factored in potential new entrants into the workforce in the 24 months following the low point of each downturn. Looked at this way, the amount of surplus labor stands at just 3.7 percent this time around, compared with 4.7 percent in 1990 and 9.6 percent in 1982.

"Any way you look at things, we are facing extremely tight job markets once the economy picks up steam," said Sylvester Schieber, Ph.D., director of research as Watson Wyatt, in a statement. "There is very little slack in the system. When the economy heats up, that slack will be taken up quickly, and we will be right back to tight labor markets."...Read more or visit CFO.com's Accounting channel.

Hispanic Market

This market is growing by leaps and bounds. In 1980, there were approximately 10 million Hispanics in the United States. Today, the population has grown to over 33 million. A conservative estimates suggest that the Hispanic marketin will expand to nearly 100 million by 2050. U.S. Hispanics are young compared to the non-Hispanic market. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 26 compared to the median age of 35 for the rest of the population. Hispanics, however, generally have lower levels of formal education--almost half have not completed high school. (if you focus on education you may enjoy an untapped opportunity here.) The Hispanic market will surpass a trillion dollars in purchasing power by the year 2050. With this, there will be an increasing demand for advertising, products, research, and other services.

Information Technology

Infoworld 11-1-02 What business-software application is your enterprise most likely to invest in over the next 12 months? That's the question we asked in last week's InfoWorld Interactive. Here are your responses:

17.1%. A. Enterprise resource planning software

9.8%. B. Supply-chain management software

24.4%. C. Customer-relationship management software

17.1%. D. E-business software

31.6%. E. Product management software

Posted January 03, 2002 06:31 Pacific Time MERRILL LYNCH has forecast that IT budgets will see an increase of 3 percent in 2002, with an even greater increase of 8 percent to 9 percent in 2003. That compares with an average decrease in corporate IT budgets of 1.1 percent in 2001, Merrill Lynch said in a report released Wednesday. For the full story:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/01/03/020103hnmerrill.xml?0103theb

International (Source: U. S. Department of Commerce)

China holds huge potential for U.S. exporters, particularly in the energy, environmental, telecommunications, medical, construction, and franchising sectors. In the past decade, U.S. exports to China have grown by nearly 12% annually. China’s accession to the World Trade Organization will dramatically increase the number of industries with market potential. Shenyang (pop. 4,540,000), capital of Liaoning Province in northeast China, is one of the country’s busiest industrial cities. Annual imports to Liaoning Province top $8.7 billion.

Hong Kong continues to benefit from its free-market philosophy, absence of trade barriers, low taxes, transparent regulations, free flow of information, and complete freedom of capital movement. There are more than 1,100 U.S. businesses represented in Hong Kong, including over 500 regional operations, and more than 50,000 Americans reside in Hong Kong. U.S. exports to this market totaled $14.6 billion in the past year.

Malaysia spent $2.7 billion on U.S. goods and services in the first quarter of 2001 alone. Most sectors are open to trade. U.S. suppliers of electronics, infrastructure, and consumer products have been particularly successful, as have fast food and other franchises involving local partners. In addition, Malaysia’s developing Multimedia Super Corridor points to special opportunities for U.S. high-tech firms.

Taiwan spends $140 billion on imports annually and remains America’s seventh largest export market. Its educated work force, advanced infrastructure, strategic location, and pro-business climate favor trade and investment. The trend towards privatization in this economy is clear. Taiwan’s accession to the World Trade Organization will lead to reductions in tariff and non-tariff barriers, paving the way for more U.S. exports.

Indonesia, enjoying renewed growth in trade, offers clear potential for U.S. exports in a range of sectors. While the long-term possibilities are virtually endless in a market of 220 million potential customers, one immediate prospect that has emerged suddenly is pollution control equipment. This and other promising sectors are well worth exploring in the Indonesian market.

The Philippines is the world’s third largest English speaking nation and our 19th largest export market. U.S. exports to the Philippines grew by 21.6% in 2000, reaching $8.79 billion, and increased another 3.4% in the first quarter of 2001. American products find widespread acceptance in this market of 80 million consumers.

The Maldives, a small, but relatively sophisticated, island market, imports everything. Host to half a million tourists a year, this market offers opportunities in energy generation, water treatment, waste management, water and air transport, construction, telecommunications, and management software, among other sectors.

Internet

TWO-THIRDS OF ALL U.S. ADULTS NOW ONLINE Although the number of dot-com companies has taken a nosedive, the number of people online in the United States continues to increase, thereby increasing the potential market for b-to-c commerce. According to The Harris Poll http://www.harrisinteractive.com fully two-thirds of all U.S. adults are now online. The online penetration has begun to increase after a slight pause in the wake of the bursting dot-com bubble. According to the poll, the percentage of adults accessing the Internet increased from 64 percent to 66 percent during the past six months. More than half of the adults (55 percent) access the Internet from home, and nearly one-third (30 percent) access it from work. Nearly 20 percent say they access it from a school, library, or cyber cafe. Some access the Internet from more than one location. The poll, conducted by telephone, indicates that 137 million adults are now online, compared with 127 million in the previous poll. By comparison, Harris found no growth in Internet penetration from the spring of 2001 until the fall. The poll still finds a bias in demographics toward the more affluent. The profile by age, however, is more cross-sectional, with the exception of those over 65. This group makes up 16 percent of all adults, but only 5 percent of those online. Harris also reported no significant change in the amount of time people spend online -- an average of seven hours or eight hours each week. One explanation might be that as access speeds and user skills have increased, people can get more done in less time.

SURVEY: INTERNET SHRINKS AS DOMAIN NUMBERS FALL Posted January 03, 2002 04:38 Pacific Time

AMSTERDAM -- THE total number of Web sites on the Internet is shrinking as domains registered during the Internet boom of late 1999 are dropped, according to Web server information firm Netcraft Ltd. Netcraft's Web Server Survey, released earlier this week, found that the number of Web sites fell by 182,142 from November to December last year. In November, 36,458,394 Web sites were found, dropping to 36,276,252 in December. The decline is only the second recorded by the survey, which started in August 1995, Netcraft said. For the full story:

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/01/03/020103hndomainnos.xml?0103theb

Last week we asked if your company had hopped on the Web services bandwagon. Here is what you said:

17.9%. A. Yes, in fact a majority of our platform is now based on Web services.

10.3%. B. Yes, but only for non-essential applications.

23.1%. C. No, but we're considering it strongly.

20.5%. D. No, it's been discussed but we've decided against it.

28.2%. E. No. It's not even a consideration.
By Lynndal Daniels, InfoWorld Community Editor

Investors

Looking back at 2001, VentureWire figures showed that despite the sharp downturn in investing in private technology companies, venture capital firms were still able to get substantial commitments to new funds. Two hundred new venture funds raised $55 billion last year, with 15 funds closing at $1 billion or more. These figures are down from the record totals of 2000 when 250 firms raised $70 billion in new venture capital funds, including 18 of at least $1 billion.

Online Shopping

HOLIDAY ONLINE SHOPPING UP -- BUT NOT DRAMATICALLY

Holiday shopping on the Internet showed a healthy increase in 2001, but failed, in wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, to deliver the giant surge that some experts
had predicted. According to a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 58 percent of Internet users did some shopping online. This compares
to 52 percent of users in 2000.

Online shopping, however, doesn't necessarily translate to buying. Only 26 percent of Internet users (29 million people) bought online in 2001, but that
compares to only 20 percent (20 million people) who did so the previous year.

The biggest increases in online buying came from the young and minorities, but the well-off still represent the greatest share of those purchasing online.
Households with incomes above $75,000 represented 39 percent of online buyers, while those with incomes below $30,000 were only 15 percent of buyers.

Men had long been the dominant group in online shopping -- something to be expected from their position as early adopters of the Internet -- but women surpassed them in 2001. By December, 52 percent of those who had ever shopped online were women, and of those who had ever purchased goods online 58 percent were women.

The good news for online retailers is that the average purchase increased nearly 19 percent over 2000. Pew reports that the average online shopper spent $392 compared to $330 in December of 2000. Late shoppers -- those who bought in the last week -- spent considerably less than those who got their shopping out of the way early.

One discouraging note is that there were dropouts. A third of those who did not buy gifts online in 2001 had bought gifts in 2000. Many of these, according to
Pew, reported bad shopping experiences in the past as one reason for not repeating their online purchasing.

Of the 76 percent of Internet users who didn't shop online, more than one third -- 36 percent -- said they were wary of using their credit card online. Other common reasons include not being interested in online shopping, feeling that there are better ways to shop, and wanting to see items before purchase.

One interesting note is that nearly one third of gift buyers -- 32 percent -- did some of their shopping from work, compared to 26 percent who said they did so in 2000. Buyers in this group were most satisfied with their shopping experience and felt they had saved significant time.

"Wish lists" don't seem to be making the grade, the report notes. Only four percent of users set up such lists in 2001, compared to five percent in 2000. Those who were most likely to do so fell in the 18 to 29 age group.

The entire report can be downloaded from
http://www.pewinternet.org.

Travel

AVweb's Question Of The Week… We received almost 500 responses to our question last week on holiday travel. The majority (72 percent) said they had not allowed security or economic concerns to affect their travel plans, and 57 percent said they planned to travel. Of those, 25 percent were flying the airlines and 40 percent opted for general aviation. Most of the comments we received related to the new security measures, and many showed a determination not to be daunted. One respondent noted, "I haven't changed my plans, though my attitude has changed."

JIAN Homepage

Return to Library of Business Information