NEO-Consumers
Posted by Nathan Hubbard on January 30th, 2007 at 10:15pm
Over the last few years, a high-spending, hyped-up tribe known as NEOs [Latin for 'new] have emerged as the new sexy segment in the booming online sector. Basically, NEOs are metropolitan dwellers and account for around a quarter of the Australian population. More of them tend to live in inner Melbourne and Sydney than anywhere else in Australia.
They are most likely to be male, in professional or management occupations and earn significantly more than the rest of society. Specifically, they dominate every income category above $45,000pa and are five times more likely than the rest of society to earn in excess of $100,000pa.
NEO consumers however, are an audience bound not by demographics or income, but by spend behaviour and attitude. Socially and economically powerful, NEOs account for more than half of discretionary spending. NEOs spend more, spend more frequently and dominate spending in the online environment, believeing it gives them greater control as consumers.
They are tipped to drive a boom in online purchasing in the next two years – 61 per cent of them have purchased over the internet, compared to 25 per cent of the general population. Newspapers, magazines and the internet make a pretty fine mix for reaching NEOs, but the internet is stellar as ninety per cent of them are online.
If you are in a business other than a commodity business, then discretionary spending is critical. While needs spending is fine for supermarkets, it’s not so fine for many other types of businesses. If spending was just about satisfying basic needs, we would all be buying the same boring little car. However, the world is fuelled by discretionary purchases and it seems the NEO’s are making many of them.
Â
Posted in Insight
