• by January 15, 2001

If you're a PC marketer, here's some interesting demographics and purchasing influences from a study by Harris Interactive, released in December, of more than 69,000 Internet users. The study measured consumer technology use, and home PC purchases. The study's results show:

- that the male head of household is involved in making the brand decision in 72% of PC purchases,

- the female head of household is involved in 59% of the decisions.

- among first time buyers, the female head of household is involved in 72% of the decisions compared with 63% of decisions for the male head of household.

- for repeat buyers, the male head of household is involved in 74% of decisions while the female head of household is involved in 54%.

The results show that different family member's involvement does influence the PC brand purchased.

- when the female head of household is involved in the brand decision, HP's share is 4 points higher than overall, and Gateway’s share is about 2 points higher.

- when a household's teenager is involved, shares for HP, Dell, Compaq and Gateway are all 2 to 4 points higher than overall, while Apple’s share is 4 points lower.

"It is becoming even more important for PC marketers to understand not only the characteristics of the families buying PCs, but also the roles that individuals within the family play in deciding which brands to consider and which to buy. (This) understanding will help manufacturers fine-tune their marketing and capture their 'unfair' share of purchases." said Dave Tremblay, Director of Harris Interactive’s technology research

Source: Harris Interactive Consumer TechPoll