Stephen Kraus

Articles by Stephen All articles by Stephen

• Why The American Dream May Be Another Casualty Of The Coronavirus Pandemic in MediaDailyNews on 09/10/2020
  

  Only one in three now believe "young people today will be better off than their parents' generation" and half of adults said they are "more worried about my personal finances than ever before," according to a survey I conducted with QuestionPro Consumer Pulse.

• Amazon's Biggest Strength: Utilitarian Products With Utilitarian Journeys in Marketing Insider on 03/17/2020
  

  Amazon's greatest strength isn't a traditional product category, but rather a type of product - utilitarian - that cuts across categories.

• Amazon's Biggest Strength: Utilitarian Products With Utilitarian Journeys in Marketing Insider on 01/24/2020
  

  Amazon's greatest strength isn't a traditional product category, but rather a type of product - utilitarian - that cuts across categories.

• Winners, Losers, Amazon: 4 Lessons Learned From Ecommerce Trends in Marketing Insider on 03/15/2019
  

  Among the lessons: Some digital pure plays stand out for their continued success, among them Etsy and Chewy.

• Poised For A Happy Holiday: Key Takeaways From Black Friday And Cyber Monday in Marketing Daily on 12/11/2018
  

  The numbers are in, and the data from Black Friday and Cyber Monday suggest that the 2018 holiday season is likely to be a happy one for brands and retailers. For this analysis, we examined petabytes of data about consumer digital behavior in the U.S. for a critical six-day period - from Thanksgiving Day through the Tuesday following Cyber Monday.

• Our Phones, Our Computers, Ourselves: What Our Devices Know About Us in Digital News Daily on 05/10/2018
  

  Consumers live multi-device lifestyles, and decide many times a day which device to use for specific digital tasks. Understanding this "allocation" of activities provides insights into consumers, and guides strategies for connecting with them more effectively. Obviously smartphones use has been growing for many years, but there is still more room for expansion. Statcounter reports that it was only in the fourth quarter of 2016 that smartphones accounted for a greater share of global Internet usage than desktops, and the mix has now stabilized at about 52% smartphone, 44% desktop and 4% tablet (not including app usage, which is obviously almost exclusively phone-based). Segments and geography obviously matter as well -- mobile use is heavier among younger consumers and in the developing world (e.g., our data show that India's traffic is m

• 6 Keys To Growth: Lessons Learned From The Success Of Reddit, Quora in Marketing Insider on 03/26/2018
  

  In the competitive online market for information and "info-tainment," two recent success stories stand out: Reddit and Quora. Our data show that both are big sites experiencing big growth.

• Taking It To The Streets: 5 Success Strategies From The New Wave Of DTC Brands in Marketing Insider on 03/14/2018
  

  For lack of a better phrase, brands and retailers have always been "frenemies." They need each other. Retailers need products to sell, and brands have said products that need distribution. But they often have competing interests, and battle in a zero-sum war over the same pot of consumer dollars spent in a category.

• 10 Years After The Great Recession, Is Luxury Finally Coming Out Of Its Shell? in Marketing Insider on 02/08/2018
  

  It has now been 10 (!) years since the financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession. And while some economic indicators (such as median income and auto sales) have finally surpassed pre-recession levels, some qualitative indicators suggest many consumers are still feeling the emotional hangover. Case in point: luxury's "public persona."

• From Cyber Monday To Cyber Month: The Broadening Of Retail Holidays in Marketing Daily on 01/04/2018
  

  Internet traffic shows less intense spikes on retail holidays than in previous years; instead, traffic is becoming more evenly spread throughout the season.

Comments by Stephen All comments by Stephen

• Amazon's Biggest Strength: Utilitarian Products With Utilitarian Journeys by Stephen Kraus (Marketing Insider on 03/17/2020)
  

  Thanks for the interesting comments, Ron -- you make good points.  I suppose in the days of COVID that Amazon also provides a stronger sense of availability and reliability, when local in-person stores may be closed or out of inventory.

• Details About Digital Devices: How Affluents Use Smartphone And Tablets by Stephen Kraus (Engage:Affluent on 10/16/2013)
  

  Hi Edmund, Thanks for your question. 18% of Affluent smartphone owners read a blog on their phone in the past 30 days. For tablet owners, the comparable figure is 19%. I hope that helps! Best, Steve

• The Mood Lightens by Stephen Kraus (Engage:Affluent on 07/17/2013)
  

  Thanks for the great comments, all. I would agree that semantics can cause confusion on this issue. We use pretty straightforward operational definitions for Affluent ($100K+ HHI), Ultra Affluent ($250K+ HHI) and Wealthy ($500K+ HHI). [It’s worth pointing out the average income in each segment is about twice the threshold for entry – e.g., average income among Ultra Affluents is a little over $500K]. But some people use the term “affluent” to mean the “best target for high-end luxury” or “those who live a consistent luxury lifestyle”. Thinking about luxury circa 2006, in our terminology, Affluents (at the time, widely called Mass Affluents) were the “aspirational luxury shoppers” who drove the market. As the recession hit, luxury marketers have done well by focusing more upscale, on more traditional luxury targets such as Ultra Affluents and the Wealthy. For reference, the Wealthy, defined as $500K+ HHI, have an average income of nearly $1 million, and a net worth of nearly $4 million, which would start to put you in the market for truly elite offerings in many categories. So when people say something to the effect of “$100K+ HHI isn’t affluent,” I would tend to agree if their meaning is something along the lines of “$100K+ HHI is not the best target for high-end luxury.”

• The Mood Lightens by Stephen Kraus (Engage:Affluent on 07/17/2013)
  

  Thank you, Judith and Paula, for your interest and your comments. One note about the definition of “Affluent”: we have historically defined “Affluent” as the top 20% of the US in terms of household income, which today translates as $100K+ in annual household income (at least on a national basis – $100K+ HHI puts you in the top 40% or so if you live in NYC or, like me, in San Francisco). We often segment the population in terms of Affluent ($100K+ HHI), Ultra Affluent ($250K+ HHI) and Wealthy ($500K+ HHI). You are certainly correct that “Affluents” (sometimes described as “mass Affluents”) are mostly occasional and aspirational in their luxury interest. For truly high-end offerings – such as something from Tiffany, or a private jet, or multi-million dollar vacation homes – Affluents are not the primary target for most brands. For offerings like that, a much more high-end target is needed.

• How Affluent Americans Feel About Income Inequality And Wealth Concentration by Stephen Kraus (Engage:Affluent on 03/21/2012)
  

  Thanks everybody for their comments and questions. To clarify, we define "Affluent" as individuals living in households with at least $100K+ in annual household income. That's about 58.5 million people -- about 21% of the population that holds 70% of the net worth and earns 60% of the income. But as you rightly point out, that hardly puts one on "easy street" these days. And in places like New York (or where I live, San Francisco), it's 35-40% of the population. We do also examine those with $250K+ HHI -- about 2-3% of the population, and the start of the "core" market for luxury. They skew more conservative and less enthuasistic about taxes on higher-income Americans. Next month we plan to have a report with a deeper examination of the $250K+ HHI group.

• Shullman Retiring As Ipsos Mendelsohn Prez, Succession Plan Unveiled by Joe Mandese (Raw on 01/20/2012)
  

  Bob Shullman is a class act. He is a scholar and a gentleman whose thoughtfulness and leadership have been appreciated by clients, co-workers and colleagues for more than 30 years. Best wishes to Bob and his family.

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