Table 12. Shopped in a Convenience Store Table 13.

Change in Single Person

Yesterday Households

& Increase
197o to 1976
18 - 24 years 28%
Total Households 15%
25 - 34 years 24%
One Person Households 41%
35 - 49 years 18%
Men Under 35 Living Alone 156%
~0 years and over 13%
—. Women Under 35 Living Alone 110%

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MARKETINGIN THE 80’s

by:

Edward L. Niner
Warner Amex, Atari, Inc.
Columbus, Ohio

Thank
you for this opportunity to -- Individual families will have more
taik about
evolutions in marketing in the money to spend and less mouths to
exciting decade we have just begun. Be- feed.
fore we can talk about this, we need to -- Middle income people will be
think about the consumers in the 1980’s. younger and better educated, with
more diverse interests.
There will be enormous major changes -- They’ll be more aware of their own
in living patterns and attitudes of the self development, their personal
new population we will be serving. Con- interests, careers and activities.
sumer research, need identification, -- People will be less concerned with
market segmentation, product formulation, traditions, old values and old
positioning, pricing, selling, distribu- previous ways of living and doing
tion and collecting --all must change and things.
be responsive to those changes in life- -- People will demand more speciality
styles,, attitudes, standards, wants, products and services and more
needs, buying power, et cetera, quality so that what they buy satis-
fies them.
[n this decade: -. They will demand greater diversity
of merchandise .than any one store
-- Two-income families with fewer child- can supply and they will” allocate
ren will be typ,ical,and a third will less and ’less time in finding, buy-
have family incomes over $25,000. ing and getting what they buy.

Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/pwe 75

 -- People will consider time their most lenge facing all of us is the management
valuable resource and=y will de- of change--the guiding of powerful new
mand less waste in how they spend it. tools for delivering information, enter-
tainment, education, purchase orders and
On top of all these personal kinds payment transactions.
of evolutions (or perhaps we should say
consumer revolutions) are a pair of gi- The high price of travel and the
gantic external factors which dramatical- high value of time is causing consumers
ly affect virtually every family in Amer- to supplement traditional retail dis-
ica. First, the high price and limited tribution systems with new methods of
supply of energy; and second, the contin- choosing, buying and obtaining merchan-
uing revolution in electronic communica- dise. Americans are using catalogues,
tions. brochures and other kinds of mail orders
and 800 phone orders in record numbers.
The shortage of gasoline to feed Such purchases are the fastest growing
America’s fleet of gas-guzzling automo- segment of retail sales in the country.
biles has created violent disruptions in The rapid and concurrent growth in con-
the American way of life. It has caused venience goods and fast foods business
Americans to reexamine dyed-in-the-wool are further evidence of the dramatic
habits of jumping into cars to drive to change in consumer patterns we have ex-
places without any serious or conscious perienced in recent years.
consideration of other alternatives. In
the 601S and 70’s, suburbanites hesitated Consumers in the 19801s will become
to waste time driving to urban centers more and more hesitant to spend time
for shopping, so big and beautiful shop- searching for the best place to buy a
ping malls were built in their neighbor- product. And, even less interested in
hoods to satisfy their demands. But un- browsing and searching “endlessly” down
til the gasoline crunch hit home, Ameri- long, crowded aisles in the,typical
cans jumped in their cars thoughtlessly stores to find the particular items on
and quite frequently for shopping, enter- their shopping lists.
tainment, education or whatever. Ameri-
cans are consciously changing such travel Consumers will continue to look for
patterns, forcing Detroit to produce alternatives and will place time on a
energy-efficient vehicles. They are far higher scale of values than tradition.
aggressively seeking other new ways to Consumers will eagerly try promising new
save gasoline, to save time and to satis- ways of doing things to save time and
fy their thirst for a better quality of energy. They will utilize new channels
life. and new devices if they serve their
needs. Electronics communications will
At precisely the same time this play an increasingly important role as
transportation revolution is taking place, one practical substitution for gasoline
comes the electronic communications revo- and time.
lution, born of our space explorations in
the early 70’s. The marriage of computer Two-way television will become a
with television and telecommunications key element in the retailing and distri-
technologies has created for the 1980’s bution of goods. In a nutshell, we will
some important alternatives to transpor- find in many consumers’ homes in this
tation at a time when society is demand- decade, an alternative system combining
ing some. The communications revolution the display of product offerings on tele-
is a very positive fact of life. i be- vision, a hand-held juke box for selec-
lieve the effects will be so powerful tion, a pre-arranged system of credit
and so broad-based that the major chal- and a convenient means for home delivery
or neighborhood pickup.

February 81/Page 76 Journal of Food Distribution Research

 The first phase of this new system With such services cable enters the
has already begun and 1 am pleased to be consumer credit business. In that re-
part of that system. It’s called QUBE-- spect we are using credit cards exten-
the two-way interactive cable television sively. We’re using credit checks to
system introduced three years ago on deny credit to those who shouldn’t have
Columbus, Ohio. It is a marriage of the it,
television set, or cable television spe-
cifically, and the computer. Computer- What results is that the TV set can
ized television enables home viewers to be used for merchandising at home and
send signals back to a computer bank, and new forms of advertising.
thus talk back to television, as QUBE
frequently has been described. QUBE customers in Columbus choose
programming to satisfy their particular
QUBE has opened the door to the interests and moods as well as the in-
future with the development of two-way terests and tastes of other family mem-
interactive television. QUBE makes it bers and their neighbors.
p-;sible for cable television not only
tn deliver television programming, but a Ten channels provide local, regional
multitude of new services are made pos- and national television channels and
sible through QUBE technology. networks, ten more provide special-
interest and public service programming
How does QUBE work? The system pro- of a wide variety. Warner Amex will
vides a return line from the television provide as many as 78 channels in
st:t to a computer. The QUBE console re- larger metropolitan areas now under con-
sc!nbles a pocket calculator, and subscri- struction at Houston, Pittsburgh, and
~,,:,rsl~se the console to send back to the suburban Cincinnati.
. ~1.~dioa variety of push-button respon-
,es. QUBE makes it possible for viewers The remarkable efficiency of satel-
!., buy merchandise directly from tele- lite communications creates opportuni-
!sion, participate in college course- ties for continued segmentation with
work, take multiple-choice tests, volun- special-interest programming during the
teer for community projects, and state 1980’s. Some of the programs on the
their preferences on a variety of local satellite will be supported or even
and national issues. produced by advertisers; they’ll be
special-interest programming for special
QUBE also permits viewers to buy audiences--and there’s no waste circula-
individual special programs, such as tion. The program going to c}less lovers
first-run movies or exclusive sports is going to have only chess lovers watch-
events on a pay-per-view basis. ing it; the program for children will
have children; and the program for per-
The subscriber may buy a series of sons over 50 will probably have persons
guitar lessons and be billed for them by over 50 watching it, These are video
the computer, just as the telephone com- magazines, and, in effect, we’re in the
pany bills at the end of the month. It video publishing business with a pcten-
st.~tes each purchase and the prices. tial for offering an infinite vat-iety of
,4 consumer may have a teenager who wants n~rrowcasts to the American p[!blic to
co take the Scholastic Aptitude Test s,]t!~fy its unending demand [or- variety
‘Training Program: ten lessons for $20. and choice. we are in the process of
[hat consumer may also take college shattering the traditional broadcast
credit courses, or buy d burglar alarm audience into as many audiences as there
system with a monthly payment for the are different tastes, needs +Ind moods.
monitoring.

Journal of Food Distribution Research

 The implications of this.are im- Both ‘Touch ‘n B@’ end neighborhood
portant to all of you in the business of advertising are now realitieg ●t QUDE.
serving the unending appetites of the Soon, a third medium will baa reellty
American public. Special-interest pro- on a broad scale in large metropolitan
grannning and two-way, interactive tele- areas. It will use a combination of two-
vision in the home represents a brand- way video communications plus a system
new marketing medium for the future. It for retrieving information from data
combines the dynamic impact of televi- banks. This will permit a wide variety
sion and radio communications and the of new in-home and in-office services as
unique targeting capability of magazines. users select printed messages from the
It attracts a prospect to a subject of banks for display on a television screen.
his interest, at his convenience and in
the comfort of his own home. It then Such a system is now being pilot-
delivers a dynamic video message offer- tested in Columbus by Warner Amex,
ing a product of interest and an invi- Atari, Inc., a leading manufacturer of
tation to buy. Then, most importantly, personal computer systems and Compu-
it provides a mechanism to offer addi- Serve Incorporated, a leading time
tional product information or to consum- sharing computer service company.
mate the sale. Finally, it transmits
invoice information and transfers pay- QUBE households participating in
ments. This new system, which we call the project will have access to data
“Tough ‘n Buy,” stimulates face-to-face which will literally convert their homes
transactions between buyer and seller in into “information centers” containing
a way no other medium has done to date. millions of facts from major information
We have evolved a complete marketing providers.
ccsmnunications system which can work in
unison with many other forms of retailing Through a cross-indexed information
and distribution. We can expect such “menu,” subscribers will have at their
c~binations to play an ever-widening fingertips computer video games, current
role in the retail world of the 1801s. financial and commodity news, diverse
business analysis and money management
Cable television systems serve spe- information from some of the best finan-
cific homes in finite service areas. cial sources available. Other data
This has great significance for local services may include:
merchants and outlets which serve the
same specific market areas. Advertising -- Full coverage of sporting events
and direct marketing campaigns via the from around the country.
system will produce more accountable re- -- Consumer reports.
sults with less circulation waste than -- Airlines, hotel and bus information
traditional media forms. We will see and availabilities.
local merchants interviewed on camera -- Emergency telephone numbers, includ-
describing their products and weekend ing health procedures and poison
specials. Discount certificates and antidotes.
cents-off coupons can be requested by -- Employment listings, training oppor-
local consumers and delivered to their tunities and the teenage job market.
homes or held in their name at the store
for their arrival. Retailers who have These tests will evolve a wide
never been able to utilize the broad range of information services which can
reach of broadcast television stations be combined with much larger data banks
will find neighborhood advertising on and with two-way interactive communica-
cable television an important new vehi- tions to provide teleshopping, funds
cle in the 180’s. transfer and banking services on a broad

February 81/page 78 Journal of Food Distribution Research

scale. The buyer, with two-way QUBE-type ized shopping terminal will be available
equipment, will ask the computer for in- that will cost much less than this multi-
formation on products available from par- purpose terminal and perhaps should be
ticipating companies for his considera- given to every home. This terminal
tion at his home. For example, suppose would enable any home to signal a deci-
the consumer desires to see hammers; this sion to purchase merchandise by con-
product may be on three pages in a cata- tacting a central computer over the
log. The viewer might do nothing more telephone system or the cable.
than punch h-a-m-m-e-r into the terminal,
and up on the screen will appear all the As we look down the road of the
hammers. Then the consumer will press 1980’s, we see many opportunities for
another button and select which one he improved marketing/distribution systems.
or she wants. At QUBE, we’ve seen enough and done
enough to realize that we can convert
Each terminal is coded. The compu- the livingroom television set eventually
ter knows who it is, the address, and the into an electronic supermarket where
credit card associated with it. As a the busy consumer can select his pur-
re:.u]t we hope not to have the consumer chases and have orders filled by sup-
press too many buttons because obviously pliers based on computer-generated data.
that’s confusing and will not work. The
cultural lag in that respect can be vast, We may not see the return of the
It must be a simple device. ice man, the fruit and vegetable man and
the medicine man to the neighborhoods
The options are many. We can pos- of America in this decade. But, then
sibly arrive at a point where a special- maybe we will.

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Journaq of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 79