I'm doing research in preparation to launch a retail website.  The
website will feature products with unique graphic design and / or
personalization.  The product offering will include tops (tee shirts,
tank tops, etc), stationery, accessories (purses, pouches, pillows). 
The brand image will focus on individuality, urban trend,
independance, and color.  The target customer is 18-34, moderate
income, may or may not be married, has many friends for which to buy
gifts.  She is independant, sassy, a trendsetter (without being
"trendy").  She is likely to shop at vintage and thrift shops as well
as online.

My questions are:

1)  Is my customer GenX and GenY females, as I suspect?
2)  What percentage of my customer base is shopping online?
3)  Is this assortment classified as "gift"?  I can't seem to find
another term (other than 'boutique') - yet "gift" seems so
inapppropriate, leading me to think more of watches and vases than
t-shirts and journals.
3)  How much does this customer spend on gifts annually?
4)  Since I had trouble classifying the category, I wasn't able to
search for the growth in this area.  If you can find it, I'd like to
know a little about the future growth potential in this area (is the
customer base growing, and does that customer want to spend more and
more as her income grows?)

Information I've already found:
 - have already visited the census beaureau to find out age / sex / income numbers
 - have visited the following magazines for demographic information
(Lucky, Allure, Real Simple, Cargo)

thanks in advance

<1. Customer base and percentage shopping online.
Due to their prevalence online and their propensity to buy online,
Generation X and Generation Y females will most likely be your
customers.

According to ComScore, the highest percentage of those online are in
the 18-34 age group. 72% of 18 to 34 year olds are online.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=445

This site has statistics about Generation X and Generation Y
Including: Generation X represents $190 billion in spending power and
Generation Y $115 billion.
http://www.fattyboombatty.com/psychographics.htm

According to the Pew Internet Report, 83% of 18 to 29 year olds were
online by August 2003. 63% of 18 to 29 year olds had bought products
online by December 2002. Those with higher income and education levels
are more likely to buy online. Broadband users are also more likely to
buy online than dial-up users. 60% of online women and 63% of online
men have made purchases online.
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Online_Pursuits_Final.PDF

According to Forrester, 68% of generation Y purchase gifts online.
http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4070/is_2002_March/ai_84072938


-------------------------------------------------
2. Category
The term gifts encompasses a huge range of products and would be
applicable to the type of products that you will be selling. I have
taken a look at how other sites describe similar ranges of products
and have found the following terms used: art gifts, printed gifts,
personalized gifts, art merchandise, trendy gifts, art designs, custom
products, boutique?

Eve?s Originals describe the range of products as art designs and
gifts. The product range includes shirts and journals. The term
boutique is also used.
http://www.cafeshops.com/evesoriginals/167078

KiniArt Originals describe their products as printed gifts and art gifts.
http://www.islandillusions.com/pgifts.html

The Printed Gift Shop uses the terms printed t shirts, personalised t
shirts and printed gifts.
http://www.theprintedgiftshop.com/

Wearable Art and More sells art designs printed onto t-shirts, hats,
mugs, mousepads and totebags.
http://www.watercolorworks.net/wearableartandmore.html

Cafepress describe their products as custom products.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/

-------------------------------------------------
3. Spending
According to a survey by Euro RSCG of 1,000 women between the ages of
18 and 34, the average holiday-gift budget is $700 to $1500 and it is
estimated that they spend between a third and a half of that on
themselves.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73509,00.html

According to the Harris Interactive Youth Pulse, 2001, in the
holidays, 18-21 year olds spend $130 on gifts. Males are more likely
to buy gifts online than females.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=231

Spending of the Generation Y group increases with age and is
concentrated at the upper end of the age range.
According to Harris Interactive, young adults aged 20-21 spend $61.3
billion annually or $7,389 per capita.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/printerfriend/index.asp?NewsID=667

Decorative pillows
In the age group 25-34, $2 million was spent on decorative pillows in 2000.
http://www.homeaccentstoday.com/CCOctGifts.PDF

This report give the buying rates of generation Y for decorative
pillows and accessories. Their buying rate for decorative pillows is
2.33 times the rate for the total population. For accessories it is
2.35 times the rate for the total population.
http://www.homeaccentstoday.com/CCGenY0304.pdf

-------------------------------------------------
4. Growth
A survey from Paymentech in the 2003 holiday season found that age
group 18-34 is likely to spend more money than in 2002.
http://retailindustry.about.com/cs/stats_consumers/a/blh_pt110803.htm

According to a report on the US gift industry by UK Trade &
Investment, shopping online is a growing trend. In addition the
Generation Y age group is experiencing tremendous growth in spending
power.
http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/giftware/usa/profile/overview.shtml

Online spending over the holiday season in 2003 was up 35% over 2002.
http://www.netratings.com/pr/pr_040105_us.pdf

According to the number of U.S. household with internet access that
purchased gifts online rose by 19 percent and analysts predict further
growth of between 30 to 35 percent.
http://news.bookweb.org/news/1046.html

According to the Pew Internet Project Report, in 2002, 28% of
Americans bought holiday gifts online up from 26% the previous year.
The average online gift buyer spent $407 compared to $392 last year.
http://www.mediapost.com/research/cfmr_briefArchive.cfm?s=191834>

-------------------------------------------------
<Additional links:>

<Why People Buy Gifts: Drives, Motivations, Purchasing Patterns and
Trends. This report costs Euro 585.00.>
<http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/6807/6807.htm>

<Gifting Report 2004 from Unity Marketing costs $2,250>
<http://www.marketresearch.com/map/prod/959776.html>


<Search strategy:>

<"purchased gifts" "generation y">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%22purchased+gifts%22+%22generation+y%22>

<"spending power" generation>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%22spending+power%22+generation>

<"purchased gifts online">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%22purchased+gifts+online%22>

<growth "online shopping" 2003>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=growth+%22online+shopping%22+2003>

<"bought gifts" "generation y">
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22bought+gifts%22+%22generation+y%22>


<Hope this helps.>

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sakoide-ga on 07 Jun 2004 22:20 PDT

I'm sorry I didn't make this clearer in my original question - I'm
looking specifically for US figures.  In your response about spending,
you listed holiday spending budgets for females in the focus age group
at 700-1500...i assume pounds?  Is the holiday budget the same
equivalent for the same demographic in the US?

Regarding categorization - and i'm not sure if this is a true
'clarification' level question or not, so if it's not, I understand -
does "specialty retail" or "miscellaneous retail" seem appropriate? 
(similar established retail chains include Urban Outfitters).

thanks - your answers are fantastic, i really appreciate it!

---

Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 07 Jun 2004 23:44 PDT

<The 700-1500 figure is in dollars it comes from New York based Euro RSCG.>

thanks so much - this is a great answer!  I wish I would've remembered
to clarify which geographical area I was interestd in - this reminder
up front would've helped me.  :)  thanks again, love this service.