If you want evidence of the crazy, mixed-up world we live in, look no further than a recent report into the changing nature of the family. It found that many people today consider their family to include not just their closest human relations, but also their pets. Fair enough. But many also felt that their animals were as significant in the family mix as, say, a brother or a mother.
There's no doubt that the family just ain't what it used to be. In the past, Mum and Dad would meet, usually in their early twenties, fall in love, then marry soon after. Then there'd be a couple of kids before ‘the old folk' hit their thirties. The unit would, give or take, resemble that most celebrated of nuclear families, TV's The Simpsons. But no longer.
Every year couples are marrying later or not at all. The average age that women start having children is also creeping upwards. This means that fewer children are being born because women leave it too late to have multiple kids or even any kids at all. On top of this, the rate of divorce is increasing. As a result, the number of single-parent families is soaring, too. In short, it seems that the traditional 2.4-child family is being firmly consigned to history.
... many people today consider their family to include not just their closest human relations, but also their pets.
The indications are that the family structure will be further reshaped over the coming decades. Experts predict that the number of women of child-bearing age, between 20 and 40, will drop by nearly 10 per cent in the next 20 years, cutting childbirth back further. At the same time the population is ageing. Latest government statistics predict that by 2031 the number of those in the 60-69 age bracket will have climbed from 6.7m in 2010 to 8.4m.
So what are the business and marketing implications for companies that target this key, but fundamentally changing, consumer unit? Are there unique opportunities for new products and services to spring up and exploit the ‘Family of the Future?' Peter Shaw, a marketing consultant specialising in brands, comments: "With the increased divorce rate, the growth in one-parent families will mean there might be straitened finances and limited time, so ‘convenience' will become all-important in sectors ranging from banking through to retailing."
The single-parent phenomenon could also impact on the property sector, with increasing pressure on housing stock holding up prices but also fuelling demand for smaller homes. DIY and home improvement companies may benefit as the one-parent household is less able to afford to move.
Where parents stay together, however, there will be more money available. With fewer children to feed, clothe and educate, there could be opportunities at the luxury end of the market. Schools, often overlooked as business opportunities, will be particularly affected. The private sector is massively undersupplied and new fee-paying educational establishments could tap in to the increased affluence.
The travel and leisure sectors could also benefit. Families may find it more affordable to holiday together in style, while also being able to fund pricey leisure-time pursuits. "Brands, from Center Parcs to luxury spa hotels, could develop further," observes Shaw. "The middle market will stagnate, but the budget hotels and the five-star properties will both go mad."
All businesses should be thinking about these new families, because the change from the typical family set-up is just so broad.
Tamar Kasriel, head of knowledge venturing at Henley Centre HeadlightVision, believes there are real marketing implications for companies planning ahead. "All businesses should be thinking about these new families, because the change from the typical family set-up is just so broad," she observes. "The trick for service providers or manufacturers in future will be to make marketing decisions about where to pitch themselves – whether to go for the ‘ideal' of where families are at that moment (which could be alienating to many) or for the untraditional (which could be clunky and patronising). Companies rarely get the latter right."
Henley has carried research into the Family of the Future, asking people across the UK how they would define their 'immediate family'. Responses reflected the dramatically changing perceptions of the traditional unit, with six new models being identified.
There are also implications and opportunities for other sectors. Demand could grow for everything from family-oriented restaurants to family tour operators as the smaller, more manageable family unit spends more time together.
Financial services could further exploit the singles market (and not assume that all thirtysomething parents have spouses) as well as target the more affluent parents with savings or pensions plans for their children. FMCG product manufacturers will also have to look beyond just changing pack sizes to cater for the new familial market, and pet care expenditure is set to soar as many families supplant children with furry animals.
"The breakdown of the nuclear family will mean a greater requirement for home delivery. Going out as a single mum is just more challenging," says Judi Finn, director of brand strategy at Interbrand. "And, as people have children later, they will perhaps be more affluent and more fussy about their shopping, so there will be a bigger demand for organic foods and ethical choices."
But patterns are far from uniform. While, overall, families are shrinking, at the top end of the spectrum they are growing. Statistics suggest that, among the AB demographic grouping, bigger families are back. "Those people who can afford to are having more children again. They are marrying in their early thirties and having four kids, because they are economically able to do so," observes Shaw.
Which takes us, full circle, back to where we started, with Homer and his tribe. Families of the Future, quite clearly, are going to be coming in all shapes and sizes.
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