Where children’s needs drive spending

The heterogeneity that modern Indian consumer has created a maze that marketers would like to unravel in order to target their products and services precisely. In this fortnightly series, Indicus Analytics presents the various facets of urban consumers, across geographies and socioeconomic groups.

The sub-segment of urban SEC D, where the head of the household is in his middle years, is made up of households whose chief wage earner is married with young children and who may be a skilled worker with primary school education or an unskilled worker who may have gone to college. The chief wage earners, who mostly fall in the age group of 25-44 years, are not very well-educated--more than half have just completed middle school. Yet, the majority has settled into regular salaried jobs, and a little less than 40% are self-employed, having their own units.

The sectors of employment are varied-- trade, manufacturing, transport and communication, and construction and real estate are the top four fields that have absorbed these chief wage earners. With relatively low skill and education profiles, jobs in the government or large private companies are not easy to come by, so most work in proprietorship units.

Household sizes are usually of three- four members, mostly nuclear. Though a little less than one-third do have more than two children, most of the households have one or two minors. There are 11 cities, predominantly in the north--for in- stance, Aligarh, Jalgaon, Patna, Gwalior, Meerut, etc.--where more than half the households have more than two children, At the other end of the spectrum, there are eight cities where less than 10% of the households have more than two children--six in the south and two in West Bengal. This is essentially a young segment; just 11% of the households have senior citizens. Household budgets, there- fore, would focus on education and meeting the various needs of these children. Whether it is going out for dinner or entertainment, or buying the latest in nutrition- al food, like all families, these households will put their children's needs at the top of the list.

Spouses have low schooling levels as well and are, for the most part, homemakers. Consequently, less than a quarter of the households have two or more earning members--in the rest, there is just one earning member. Household income is, thus, concentrated in the lower segments, although some do earn more than `10 lakh a year. The top five cities with the highest number of these relatively rich households are Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, Kolkata and Bangalore. Interestingly cities such as Faridabad, Surat, Jaipur and Ernakulam have more such rich households than Hyderabad and Pune.

With chief wage earners now settled in their family and careers, most of them have purchased houses. Others would be saving to make this jump in asset owner- ship. Two-wheelers are the first purchase in vehicles. Car penetration is low; those who buy, mostly opt for small cars. While televisions and refrigerators are now common in most urban households, micro- waves have made their entry into the kitchens in this segment too--Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Faridabad and Purbhi Singhbum all have penetration higher than the metros.

Numerous regional channels have made the television the preferred media for entertainment and news. The Internet and newspapers tie at second place, reflecting the age groups in this segment. Small cyber cafes offering cheap access to the Internet dot the landscape of urban India and form the quickest way to catch up with news, entertainment and employment opportunities from a wide range of sources.
Interestingly, time spent on the Internet per day by this sub-segment is highest in tier II and III towns such as Allahabad, Belgaum, Dhanbad, Jabalpur, etc.

(Source-: mintlive)