The Digital Universe, a new report by Roy Morgan research, profiles New Zealand Digital life in 4 key areas - Communities, Banking & Finance, Shopping and Media.
As well as the nine general trends highlighted in the report and summarised here at StopPress, the report has some interesting details about the different demographic groups and how they participate in the digital arena.
Smartphone Usage
has grown by 99% in New Zealand in the last year. Of those who own smartphones, 68% accessed the Internet. 27% used their phones for Social Media, and 8% used them for Internet Banking.
Social Media
is used by the majority of New Zealanders. While the largest group are Facebook users, with 56% of New Zealanders using Facebook once a month or more, Twitter and especially Google Plus are growing fast, with Google Plus used by 8% of New Zealanders and growing at 20% in the last 6 months, and Twitter at 6% with growth of about 15% in the last 6 months. The demographics are weighted toward the 'Technology Early Adopters' and 'Digital Life' segments. 'Together, these segments comprise almost half of all users of these social media platforms. Those in the 'Digital Life' segment have mostly grown up in the Internet era and thus are typically fast adopters of Internet services such as social networks.'
Blogs, forums, and business networking sites are specific to particular topics and demographics. The report also noted that among early adopters, Facebook 'seems to have reached saturation, showing little growth over the past 12 months'.
Digital Media is growing quickly
there has been 112% growth in online newspapers in the last 5 years, with many accessing them on tablets. 39% of New Zealanders watch YouTube.
Online Shopping
5.6 billion dollars were spent in online shopping by New Zealanders in the last year. Trademe is the largest online shopping site in New Zealand, and roughly the same number of people (2 million) visit Trademe in a four week period as buy something at the warehouse.
Banking
48% of New Zealanders use Internet Banking, and 8% have used a Smart Phone for banking. The move to Internet Banking has been led by early adoptors, however 'The challenge for banks is that many of their most valuable customers are not Early Adopters, rather they are Technology Traditionalists and even Technophobes. These people are less likely to adopt new technology just because it is new rather it will need to add real value to them. This is illustrated by the fact that only 4% of people with total savings and investments over $200,000 have ever conducted banking via their mobile, compared to the New Zealand average of 8%'