Marketing on the move: tracking rail commuters

Across Britain consumers are spending dozens of hours every week travelling to and from work, giving marketers plentiful opportunities to showcase their products and services. Kantar Media's TGI study identifies the media habits and behaviours of commuters, enabling marketers to target them effectively.

The latest TGI data reveals that there are over two million adults in Great Britain who use the rail for work or business at least once a week, up by over 200,000 in the last five years.  Rail commuters have an average family income of £41,000 - £10,000 more than the average adult in GB - but commuters are also 27% more likely than average to "find it very difficult to cope on present income levels" suggesting that they have to contend with significant expenditures and responsibilities.  TGI Lifestage data bears this out as a quarter of commuters have children of school age (including playschool) and they are also twice as likely to expect to get married in the next 12 months.

However, despite their financial pressures, rail commuters are discerning consumers: they are 50% more likely than the average adult to "tend to go for premium rather than standard goods or services" and over 20% more likely to believe that "style and design of products are as important as their quality." In order to strike the balance between purchasing quality and stylish products while operating within a budget, rail commuters are willing to shop around for the best deals - they are 40% less likely than the average adult to be 'solus' grocery shoppers (ie only shop at one particular retailer).

Rail commuters could certainly be described as "time poor" as they are over 50% more likely than average to spend 10 hours or more at work per day. With such a large proportion of their time spent at work and commuting, it is hardly surprising that 57% believe that they cannot do without mobile communication.  This reliance upon mobile communication means that rail commuters are among the key early adopters of new technologies - they are 30% more likely than average to own a tablet computer and almost 40% have downloaded apps to their mobiles or tablet PCs in the last 12 months.

Online marketers should be encouraged that rail commuters are ahead of the curve as they are willing to use their mobiles not only to keep connected but also as purchasing tools - they are 56% more likely than average to shop using their mobiles. They are also a key demographic in the mobile phone market as they are more than twice as likely to be TGI Word of Mouth Champions for mobiles - meaning that they promote the products, carry influence among other consumers and have the power to persuade others to purchase their preferred models or tariffs.

However, although the internet is often their main media vehicle, rail commuters are also heavy consumers of other media channels. For example, they are 23% more likely than average to use online TV catch-up services, 20% regularly visit their favourite newspaper and magazine websites and they are over 50% more likely to listen to the radio on the internet. To unwind, commuters seem to swap their railcards for popcorn with 17% regularly consulting cinema listings online and a quarter being heavy cinema goers.