LAS VEGAS, NV (BRAIN)—A study by the direct marketing firm Catalyst Communications released yesterday at Interbike concludes that nearly 95 percent of IBD’s core customers are age 30 or older.
They are also much more likely to be married men earning more than $50,000 a year.
Specifically, 69 percent of the group is male, 85 percent married and 96 percent own their own homes compared to national averages of 49 percent, 50 percent and 67 percent respectively. An impressive two thirds earn more than $50,000 a year and 42 percent earn more than $100,000 compared to 49 percent and 18 percent respectively.
"The data show that core customers of U.S. bike stores are mostly male, older, more settled, wealthier and more married than the rest of the U.S. population,” said Leslie Bohm, chief executive officer of Catalyst Communication, which designs, produces and mails direct-mail magalogs to consumers on behalf of IBDs and outdoor specialty retailers. “We all knew that. What’s surprising is how much older, more settled and wealthier.”
Among other things, the study confirms that bike shop employees should show customers more expensive product because they can afford it and are accustomed to paying for high quality. As homeowners, they also have plenty of room to store gear.
The study is based on 633,096 customer records from 115 bike shops in 50 states. A random sample of 5 percent yielded 31,633 names and addresses. These were matched against a national credit bureau database containing information from creditors, lenders and public records.
Out of the sample, 24,196 (76.5 percent) names were successfully verified to yield information about each individual’s gender, age, marital status, and income. The match rate of over 76 percent is higher than normal and adds weight to the data’s validity.
