Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Pennies for heaven : Boomers more likely to buy religious products than elders
Whether it's evidenced by the bottled Kabbalah water that pop-star Madonna demands backstage, the box-office success of "The Passion of the Christ" or the $3.5 billion religious books industry, it's clear Americans are more than willing to bulwark their faith with cash outlays.
But some are more willing than others: 46 percent of religious-book buyers are 35- to 54-years old, while just 28 percent are 55 years and older, according to a new report by Packaged Facts, a subsidiary of MarketResearch.com.
And the younger set, those aged 35 to 54, are more likely than other age groups to tune in to religious media, with 44 percent watching faith-based television programs and 51 percent listening to religious radio, according to the report.
But it's older Americans -- those aged 65 and older -- who are more apt to profess religious belief and attend services.
About 47 percent of those aged 65 and older say it's important to attend religious services, compared with about 30 percent of those in the 35-to-54 group and 35 percent of those aged 55 to 64, according to the report, which compiles information from multiple sources, including survey firm Harris Interactive, the Christian Booksellers Association, Simmons Market Research Bureau's surveys of more than 25,000 adults and companies' annual reports.
'Shopping for spirituality'
The findings don't surprise religion experts. "This reflects what many churches are experiencing," said Bill Leonard, dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest University's Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"The older, more traditional constituents continue to participate in traditional ways. Younger constituents, even if they consider themselves active members of a congregation, are attending less than their elders," said Leonard, who is not associated with Packaged Facts.
The younger generations' penchant for moving and a greater sense of individualism are contributing to the trend, Leonard said.
"One tends to identify less with a community than with whether that community 'meets my individual needs,'" he said. "That may mean a formal denomination, it may mean a weekly bible study, it may mean a weekly yoga class."
Meanwhile, older churchgoers often get their spiritual appetites whetted through materials they receive in church.
"They may still be getting those materials, but they come through the traditional venue of the churches rather than, say, shopping at the local Christian bookstore or the local New Age shop at the mall," Leonard said.
Consumers drove $6.8 billion in religious-product sales last year, up from about $5.7 billion in 1999, according to the Packaged Facts report.
Religious books top the market, with $3.5 billion in sales last year, compared with $2.6 billion in 1999; stationery, gifts and merchandise brought in $1.9 billion, up slightly from $1.6 billion, and religious-themed music, video and software products elicited $1.4 billion in sales, about even with 1999 sales, according to the report.
Retailers are taking note
Retailers haven't hesitated to jump into the religious-book market.
"It used to be the only place where you could find these books was in religious bookstores," Montuori said. "Wal-Mart's bucked that a little bit. They've always been a little more upfront about stocking religious titles."
More than 27,000 titles popped up in a recent search for "Christian books" on Wal-Mart's Web site. And the same search on Target.com elicits more than 7,000 titles, while a search for "Kabbalah," the ancient mystic Jewish religion practiced by Madonna and other celebrities, brings up 490 titles.
The category "religious books," however, is broad and includes tomes such as Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code," though some readers may not consider such titles religious.
Book titles focusing on Christian living are "one of the fastest growing segments," Montuori said. "The overall theme is applying some form of religiosity to everyday life."
Robbing Peter to pay Paul?
The trend is bad news for churches seeking donations. "It represents the loss of what ... we call the tithing generation, those who consistently give a significant amount of money through their local denomination," Leonard said.
"You can get people to give for specific causes -- send the kids on a mission trip, buy a new church van, fund a homeless shelter -- but giving for the annual budget that takes care of the church structure is increasingly difficult to secure," he said.
"I used to tease people in church [by saying] 'there's a verse in the bible that says yuppies don't tithe. It's in the book of James. It's very obscure.'"
By Andrea Coombes, CBS.MarketWatch.com
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