research

Science Educated Heavily Influence Affluent Market

Scientist

When Scientific American decided to take a second look at Ipsos MMR's Affluent Study 2010 to compare highly educated consumers, it was not merely interested in degrees attained. It wanted to look at a particular subset of highly educated consumers. Not surprisingly, given its purview, the magazine wanted to understand the consumer behaviors of affluents with science degrees -- those with four-year-plus degrees in natural sciences, medicine, engineering, computer sciences, and math, with a household income of at least $100,000.

What it found avers the "revenge of the nerds" dictum that the kids you kicked around in shop class are making more money, traveling more, buying cooler things, having more fun and probably influencing your own purchase decisions on things like medicine, gadgets and how to invest. Glory days, indeed.

advertisement

advertisement

Bruce Brandfon, VP and publisher of Scientific American, said the magazine decided to do a more intensive examination of the Ipsos MMR data based on a higher-education focus because "we had a hypothesis that one's field of study determined behavior and attitudes. Remarkably, that information did not exist. We felt that the notion that people with degrees in science are different might be an interesting hypothesis."

The idea of looking at this demographic skew, which the company dubs the "Scientific Educated Elite," was to get a sense of whether science education makes a difference, according to Rick Simone, marketing research director at the magazine.

"We approached Ipsos Mendelsohn and did a recontact survey before the actual syndicated study was released," says Simone, who adds that the magazine recontacted 13,030 people with a new survey in July and got over 5,000 responses from science-educated consumers. Fifty-seven percent were male, the median age was 46, the median household income was $153,000, and 86% were employed.

Brandfon said the relevance of these consumers is in their growing weight within the affluent demographic. They don't inhabit a small corner of the wealthy population; they are a quarter of it, comprising 9 million affluents versus 11 million affluents who were educated in the humanities. "Their reach is surprising," he says.

Simone said those affluents with a science background are spending nearly twice as much across all categories than the median among affluent consumers of all kinds. "They are spending twice as much on home decorating, antiques, flooring, luxury goods, travel, technology such as tablets, digital books, and notebooks." And surprisingly, they also spend more on cosmetic surgical procedures, he said. They are also two times more likely to have a personal income of $75,000-plus.

The study found that the scientific elite spend, on average, over $4,000 per year on clothing; $25,500 on vehicles, $9,300 on homes and gardens; $1,116 on computers and smartphones; and nearly $2,000 per year on such luxury items as watches, fine jewelry and fine writing implements. They also spend over $7,425 per year on business travel. "These numbers are even above the general affluent population," said Michael Voss, VP of marketing and business development at the publication.

The largest percentage -- nearly a quarter -- of the science-educated elite is in medicine, with 10% in education, and 8% in manufacturing. Three-quarters consider themselves influencers in consumer technology and finance.

"They don't turn to others for advice," says Simone. "They dig in on their own; they interpret data themselves and are business decision makers, and they are incredibly tech-savvy." Forty percent of these consumers said that people often ask them for advice about health issues, and nearly a quarter said people turn to them for advice on investing.

Next story loading loading..