TIME magazine recently featured a collection of articles with the umbrella title 10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life. The first one entitled Living Alone is the New Norm states that “The extraordinary rise of solitary living is the biggest social change that we’ve neglected to identify, let alone examine.”
Based on 2011 U.S. census data, this trend was noted among 28% of all U.S. households, a steady shift upward from the 9% registered back in 1950. This figure now matches and shares the lead with households of childless couples, thus forming a 56% majority. The nuclear family, multigenerational family, and the roommate/group home categories have taken a backseat. Despite modern mixed media focus on soccer moms/mommy groups, blended families or roommates with kid in tow, marketers should think about any potential impact of this growing societal shift on how they sell the story of their products and services.
Among international single dwellers, the dominant gender is female, and in the U.S., the majority is aged 35-64. People aged 18-34 form the fastest growing segment living on their own. The country with the most single dwellers is Sweden at 47% of households, followed by the UK and Japan at about one-third; these contrast strongly with the 3% in India.
This data raises questions such as: Is this a target segment for your company? If so, does your Internet marketing strategy need to be adapted to reach them as well as couples without children? Do your products or services need to be tailored to their needs, something as simple as repackaging/resizing? Do these subgroups have more disposable income or time for social networking sites and niche consumer interests? No doubt you'll have more questions.
As we ponder the implications of this social change, no doubt U.S. store chain Target is or will be soon (surreptitiously) on the singleton trail.
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Interesting. Certainly doesn't square with friends who find their adult children "renesting" as result of recession. As they are able to move out, however, they may become singles. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed. Borderline depressing :) No wonder 'communities' on the net and social media in particular are becoming stronger...there is finally a human need to belong. Should definitely be kept in mind when trying to create a brand following.
ReplyDeleteI do not find this depressing at all, in fact I find that single people, living "alone" are actually more socially engaged as a result of their freedom and independence. We are often taught to think of "alone" as a negative word - in fact, recent studies show that people who live alone are more socially engaged than any other "type" - their relationships actually tend to be stronger (check out a new book "Going Solo" by Eric Klinenberg - here is a blog post on it - http://tedlehmann.blogspot.com/2012/03/going-solo-by-eric-klinenberg-review.html). From a marketing standpoint, this is a large demographic (particularly female) to reach and consider in any online campaign.
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