The Data Will Set You Free

3 Tips for High School Students to Standout in the Crowd come admissions time

2010-07-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

What stands in the way of you getting that last spot at Harvard or winning a scholarship? It might be the student sitting to you in class says high school counselors in a recent survey. A survey of 740 high school counselors conducted by Arizona State University MBA graduates asked counselors, "“What do you feel is a senior’s biggest obstacle to getting into top college programs or obtaining a scholarship?” and one of the top responses was a "competition amongst classmates". While ”Lack of initiative or starting too late in the process” and “Poor SAT/ACT testing or GPA” were the top two recorded responses, competition among classmates was recorded more than responses like, "Money" or "Family situations".

Collegeboard.com writes, "The majority of colleges indicate that they are looking for well-rounded students." Which essentially means, colleges prefer applicants who can demonstrate balance among academics, extracurricular activities, and their personal lives; however, Collegeboard.com does warn against attempting to pad your resume by joining multiple organizations or activities, "When admissions officers look at resumes, they are attempting to assess leadership, commitment, and integrity… [but] If you're an overachiever, beware. More is not necessarily better.”

So what can students do to stand out in a crowd of their peers? Below you’ll find three suggestions from the WhatisAverage team.

Get Involved – In Something *YOU* Like: FastWeb.com states that “winning scholarships isn’t about having the longest list of extracurriculars. It’s about communicating who you are and what you care about through the activities you participate in and enjoy.” While this comment is geared towards scholarships, the same holds true for college admission too.

So, what does this mean for you as a student (or as the parent of a student)? Well, it means that it is important to get involved in extracurricular activities, volunteer work, church stuff – whatever is interesting to you, will capture your attention, and is something you’re passionate about. The key is not to be just be involved to put it on your resume, but to enjoy it enough to talk about it in essays, in interviews, and in general. Typically admissions officers and scholarship committees can tell if you’re just padding your resume versus being involved in something you love.
Update Your Resume: Now that you’ve been involved in activities that are meaningful to you, it’s important to update your resume to reflect this involvement… and to choose those individuals who will write references for you too. There are a ton of different resources online that give tips to writing a resume, like “Resume Writing 101” on CollegeBoard. While these tips are typically geared towards job or internship placements, they give some general ideas that can be really helpful as you prepare your individual resume for college applications and scholarships.

Your resume should highlight who you are as a student and as a person, focusing on your school activities and extracurriculars – and it should also be geared towards whatever you’re using it for. This means that your college-admissions resume may look different than the resume for one of your scholarships… and tailoring your resume to meet the needs of each application can only help you!
Choose Your References: One of the last pieces of advice to stand out among your peers and the competitiveness of your graduating class is to carefully and purposefully choose the individuals who will write your letters of reference or recommendations. While FastWeb.com gives an indepth review of choosing individuals for your letter of reference, ACTstudent.org gives some brief recommendations on making the most of personal references.

Ask people who know you and can support the recommendation well.
Prepare a neat and legible reference form.
Give your references plenty of time—a school counselor isn't likely to write glowing recommendations for last-minute requests! Allow at least two weeks before application deadlines. [At WhatIsAverage.com we recommend asking early – some counselors require a timeline of at least a month for a letter of recommendation!]

Your letters of recommendation should give your application more context on why you’re so great, explaining why colleges should choose you, and why you should be given scholarship money. With this in mind, you want to choose people who can offer a well-rounded view of who you are as a student. We’d recommend choosing someone who knows you academically and can speak to your academic merits… then choose someone who can speak to your personality and other involvements: maybe a coach, your supervisor at work, someone you volunteer with, or your leader in whatever extracurricular activity you’re involved in.

With all of this talk of standing out among your peers and competition among classmates, it’s important to understand that you can’t just focus on extracurriculars, that your GPA and SAT/ACT scores still matter! It doesn’t matter how purposefully involved you’ve been, if your grades are too low to be considered competitive for admission into the school of your choice, you won’t get far in the application process. With this in mind, stay focused on the numbers too!

3 Tips to Keep Students from Falling Behind this Summer

2010-07-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that the SAT/ACT can play a role in a student’s chances of getting into college, but how much importance should we put on these tests? According to a recent study of 740 high school counselors by Arizona State University MBA graduates, it is the second most important factor for a high school student looking to get into a top college behind preparing early and not waiting till it’s too late to apply or bring up their GPA.

The survey asked the question, “What do you feel is a senior’s biggest obstacle to getting into top college programs or obtaining a scholarship?” and the number one answer (22% of counselors’ response) was”Lack of initiative or starting too late in the process” and the second highest response (15% of counselors’ response) was “Poor standardized testing or GPA,” spotlighting the importance of these tests. In fact, John Baylor, President/Founder of John Baylor Test Prep, commented, “studies show that cost is the number one reason that students drop out of college, and the best way to decrease the cost of college is with higher test scores.”

So what can a high school student do this summer to keep from falling behind and be successful on the SAT or ACT?

Study, Prepare, and Take the SAT/ACT Seriously: It is amazing how many students don’t take the SAT/ACT test serious enough or have the misconception that you “can’t” study for either one. Based on your budget, there are a ton of different options to prepare for the SAT/ACT. You can purchase books on Amazon starting at $15, or if your willing to spend a little more, you can take courses online at your pace starting at $200 or work directly with a tutor 1-on-1 this summer for around $700. As boring as studying for these tests can be, many of these resources cite significant improvement with a bit of studying and the online or 1-on-1 services often offer money back guarantees and/or free-trials if you do not see the desired results!
Know the Numbers: Research the colleges you are thinking of applying to and see the average score from their previously admitted classes. Many colleges publish this information online and will give you a realistic picture of the standardized test scores and GPA you will need to be able to be accepted to the college. If you’re looking to save time, visit the College Potential Calculator which is a database of admission statistics for over 3,600 Universities and approximately 2,000 scholarships. It calculates not only your potential to get into a University, but also let’s you know how much you will need to improve your GPA, SAT or ACT score over the summer to have greater than an 80% chance of being accepted.
Your Cumulative GPA Matters: Many colleges will make admissions decisions based on your coursework through junior year, but many other colleges will also admit students contingent on the successful completion of your senior year. Additionally some colleges will recalculate GPA’s to see your “core” classes on a 4.0 scale. You can find a list of high school core classes online here: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/33.html. This means that you need to take your high school classes serious – freshmen year through senior year – and don’t just take fluff coursework like office assistant and bowling!

The College Potential Calculator at WhatisAverage.com gives both students and their families the opportunity to understand where they stand based on their GPA and SAT/ACT scores, shedding light on what students should improve to be considered competitive for the institution of their choice. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to understand if a school is out of their reach and provides alternatives that are within their reach. In fact, you can allow the calculator to find your potential to get into up to 20 colleges at a time based on the cost of the college, location of the college, national rank of the college, or your best chances.

3 Tips for Parents and Students Trying to Save Time Looking for Scholarships this Summer

2010-06-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

What is a high school graduate’s biggest deterrent to getting into a top college or obtaining a scholarship? According to a recent survey of high school counselors, it is a student’s “lack of initiative or simply starting too late in the process.” In fact, 22% of the counselors surveyed reported that high school seniors are either too overwhelmed or simply don’t make the time to sit down and apply for scholarships. They think their grades either aren’t high enough or they can’t write a compelling enough story about themselves, so why waste the time?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the US Department of Education, only about 10.6% of students, or about 1 in 10, received scholarships worth an average of $2,815 in 2007-08. This leads to tight competition and let’s face it, $2,800 isn’t going to go vary far when the average annual prices for undergraduate tuition, room, and board were estimated to be $11,578 at public institutions and $29,915 at private institutions for the 2007-08 school year.
So what can you do to stay competitive and attempt to reduce wasting time on scholarships that won’t pay that much? Dan Coomes, one of the surveyors and creator of The College Potential Calculator, has a few non-traditional tips for students and parents looking for an extra edge this summer:

Know what your intended field of study is going to be: Most students, parents, and counselors I’ve talked to believe that minority status or being able to demonstrate financial need is the biggest factor in obtaining a scholarship. While being able to demonstrate need is an important factor, a student’s minority status is only applicable to approximately 9% of the scholarships listed in our Calculator. That means there’s 1,800 other scholarships out there that don’t have a minority status requirement. Selecting a field of study and being able to write about it is far more important than minority status, representing approximately 48% of the scholarships in the College Potential Calculator. Engineering and engineering technology is one of the most represented intended fields of study, capturing about 33% of scholarships that require an intended field of study to be eligible to apply. A few others that had good representation were biological and physical sciences, business/management/administration, and trade and industry. Conversely, liberal arts and interdisciplinary studies, English and literature, foreign languages, and area and ethnic studies were all intended fields of study that were not widely represented with available scholarships.
Join an organization: Approximately 11% of scholarships require that you are apart of some organization to be eligible to apply. The American Legion is the most widely represented organization, representing over 25% of the scholarships that require an affiliation with an organization. The American Legion is for current or past active duty military personnel, but there eligibility can be extended within divisions of the Legion for sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, wives, and other family members.
Look at what your current state of residence or the state where you are looking to attend college has to offer: Fifty percent of the Scholarships listed in the College Potential Calculator are based on the state you currently reside in or the state you intend to attend College in. You can cut the time down on your scholarship search by simply looking at scholarships registered in your state. For instance, Googling, “Scholarships in Texas,” will yield an alphabetical list of all scholarships for Texas residents.

A fun feature of the College Potential Calculator is the ability to look at more than just one college. In fact, you can allow the calculator to find your potential to get into up to 20 colleges at a time based on the cost of the college, location of the college, national rank of the college, or your best chances. For instance, let’s look at a high school student who lives on the east coast but wants to go to school on the west coast. All she has to do is simply enter in the city and state on the west coast she wants to be near, her SAT or ACT scores and GPA, and then click calculate. Based on her preference, she can sort the results of the 20 colleges by the least expensive colleges near the area, the closest colleges to the area, the colleges with the highest national rank in the area, or by the colleges she has the best chances of getting accepted to near the area.
The College Potential Calculator is designed for students, parents, and counselors who want to gauge a student’s potential to get into any one college or obtain a scholarship based on their GPA, SAT or ACT score. The tool looks at the past 1 – 5 years of admission statistics for 3,600 universities and approximately 2,000 scholarships. You can watch a quick demo of the College Potential Calculator on WhatisAverage.com.

The Decline of Text Messaging?

2010-02-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

I received this written message from a friend of mine on my iPhone, "Wanna go to the Saucer and grab a beer?" This is a standard message I'm sure many people see quite often, but this came through the messaging system on Words with Friends (a popular iPhone app). While responding to his rhetorical question with another rhetorical question, "Is the Pope Catholic?" I pondered the future of text messaging. Text messaging, also known as SMS or short messaging service, is described in wikipedia as "most often used between private mobile phone users, as a substitute for voice calls in situations where voice communication is impossible or undesirable."

Since the first quarter of 2008, Americans as a whole were sending and receiving more text messages a day than phone calls, I guess meaning there are a lot of situations in life where voice communication is impossible or undesirable. In 2008, the total text messages sent by Americans was reported to be 1 trillion or a little over 13 messages per day per wireless customer. This is up from 363 billion messages sent a year prior. Text Messaging accounted for $32 billion in revenue for wireless carriers in 2008, but this latest message from a friend of mine had me wondering if text messaging had hit it's peak and will we see a slow decline with the advent of social media networks, emails, and messaging systems on apps?

This was not the first time I had pondered this and I have to give all the credit to my step-father who postulated the idea a year earlier in a conversation over a tobacco pipe and beer on the back porch together (most of my great conversations happen over a pipe and beer I've found). He had one of the first generation iPhones and did not have a text messaging plan. When asked why he didn't, he responded with, "What do I need it for? I receive emails just as fast as I would receive a text message and I can put everything and more into an email that I can into a text message." He's right.

But when I think of emails, I think of something more formal than a text. To me an email is something a little more professional, but he did spark my interest with the idea. What exactly does a text message provide? Using the standard iPhone platform, I think everyone would agree that a text message is a quick, easy, and informal way to compose a message to one or a few friends. The message can be a quick question, invitation, status update, and accompanied by a picture or popular picture icon from services like emoji.

I, like many other people, have a facebook, linkedin, myspace, and twitter user name. To add to that, I have a business email, personal email, and junk email address. Some people may have more than these and some may have less, but the fact remains there are many ways to communicate with my friends other than a text message. And all of these give me greater flexibility and ability to reach a larger audience than a text.

There has to be an incentive for people to stop using text messaging, and the one I'd like to point out is the financial one. For my wife and I, the unlimited family text plan costs $30/month with AT&T. The data plan which I would use for everything (minus texting) costs an additional $30/month. If we were to give up texting, we would save $360 a year. My prediction is that as more and more of these grow, the less and less popular text messaging will become. I don't see it happening this year, but if a tight economy continues, look for innovative ways of consumers to cut costs on duplicated services in 2011.

Remembering the Military During Valentine's Day

2010-01-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is named after two among of the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide (second only to Christmas), but it is not just an American holiday. In fact, Norfolk celebrates Jack Valentine, in Denmark and Norway Valentine's Day is known as Valentinsdag, and in Turkey it is called Sevgililer Günü, which translates into "Sweethearts' Day".

Valentine's Day marks a time when some civilians may be proposing, others celebrating anniversaries in romantic places, and even more using the date as an excuse to finally ask out a special someone, but not all many couples will have a chance to celebrate together. There are men and women who will be separated from their loved ones because of serving their country overseas or perhaps have lost their life due to service. This Valentine's Day, WhatisAverage.com would like to say thank you to these men and women and the organizations that support this cause.

Spotlighting organizations serving those who serve

We owe this ability to freely celebrate almost any event in our lives to the service men and women who have given their lives or are currently serving overseas to protect that freedom. An organization I'd like to spotlight in our first philanthropic initiative of 2010 is The Gold Star Wives of America (GSW). The GSW is a non-profit organization of military widows/widowers whose spouse died while on active duty or from service connected disabilities. This military survivors organization has been serving war widows from all conflicts and service connected disabilities since it was founded in 1945. I recently spoke with representatives of the south central region chapter and they explained that they have noticed a lack of awareness among the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and are excited to be spotlighted in hopes of spreading the word to our Veteran families.

Promotion for participants

In addition to the Veterans who have given their lives to service, WhatisAverage.com would like to help couples currently separated due to service of their country a little less painful this February 14th by bringing memories of family to them. I spoke with the same group of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in Baghdad, Iraq from my previous initiative to get some good initial ideas for this month's featured survey, "What are some good gifts for couples that will be separated during Valentine's Day?" Please visit the survey and provide input while spreading the word to other Veterans' families who are affected. All proceeds from this survey will go The Gold Star Wives of America and you can donate directly to their organization by clicking here.

To encourage participation and show our appreciation for these families, WhatisAverage.com is giving away the top recommended product to two randomly selected families who are registered on the site and who will be separated due to service to their county on Valentine's Day. Our hope is that we can make this separation a little less painful by giving them gifts like a digital photo frame, a pre-paid cell phone, or a flip video camcorder. We will also randomly select another registered member to receive the top recommended product on Valentine's Day. To kick off this initiative, we will be randomly selecting registered members daily to receive free iTune's gift cards from WhatisAverage.com from February 1st through the 14th. You must be a registered member of WhatisAverage.com and a US citizen to participate. No purchase necessary, please see complete details on the site.

Thanks again to the service men and women of this Country. You can help spread the message by posting a link to this story on Facebook, Twitter or your own personal blog. Contact Dan at Dan.Coomes@WhatisAverage.com if you or your business would like get involved.

An expecting father’s nightmare

2009-12-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

My wife and I are expecting our first child in June. (Something that helped inspire me to create WhatisAverage.com; see the FAQs for the full story). When I started telling people that we’re expecting, they’ve invariably asked, “Do you want a boy or girl?” Of course, my answer is, “We just want a healthy baby.” However, after seeing the responses of females ages 13 to 17 in a recent survey, a boy bias is started to take hold of me.(Picture compliments of impawards.com)

I recently partnered with Peanut Labs to conduct a survey of over 4,000 males and females, ages 13 to 44, across the United States. We asked, “What do you want for the holidays?” Since it was a fill-in-the-blank survey, there was a wide variety of answers. There were many wholesome answers like “a healthy baby,” “a husband,” and “time with my family.” But, liberated by the anonymity of the survey, others admitted they were longing for ”a divorce,” "I hate the holidays," or “sex.”

Of consumers who asked for something sexual for the holidays, females ages 13 to 17 made up 52% of the respondents—more than any other age group. The next closest group was males ages 25-34 (19%). While I’m a realist living in 21st century America, I’m not sure any parent likes to contemplate their teenager being active at such early ages.

Perhaps there‘s a double standard when it comes to fathers being far less comfortable with the notion of a sexually active daughter than a son. Regardless, females age 13 to 17 are standing out, which this leads to this week’s follow-up survey for parents or expecting parents: “Would you care or be afraid if your teenager was sexually active?”

I’m guessing the survey will find I have plenty of company in being anxious about this topic. If not, it may make me lean toward having a female age 35 to 44 right away--that group asked for sex the least and replied with wholesome answers the most.

Remember: The survey answers are anonymous, but I encourage everyone to register prior to answering so I can report back on how different demographic groups feel about this question. Are fathers more worried about it than mothers? What percentage of teenagers responded we shouldn’t be worried? Stay tuned.

Santa Slashes Costs with WhatisAverage.com

2009-12-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Postal Service recently spared its Letters to Santa program, but the program may soon be obsolete—thanks to the growing popularity of WhatisAverage.com’s “What do Tweeners want for the holidays?” survey.

I recently spent Thanksgiving with my 10-year-old brother and shared the concept of WhatisAverage.com with him. When I explained how—among other things—the site lets gift-givers know what people want for Christmas, he immediately asked, “So Santa could just go to your site and see what to get me?”

I told him I hadn't thought about it that way, but that, theoretically, he was correct, provided that the gifts he wanted were among the top 10 results. I spent the rest of the night answering questions about my marketing campaign, feeling as if I was back in the boardroom refining our 2010 sales plan. He couldn't wait to share this new phenomenon with the world—well, at least with the other 10-year-old boys who want the same thing he does for Christmas. (Above picture is property of Letters from Santa)

It's great news for Santa—talk about a productivity booster! Instead of having to pore over millions of letters, he can now surf the web and find all the data he needs, neatly arranged and graphically displayed. Santa will also be happy to see the survey results include many requests for gift cards and other items that can be easily purchased online—another opportunity for Santa to cut labor costs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service may find children abandon letter-writing as WhatisAverage.com lets them communicate their wishes with a click of the mouse.

Alright…it’s time to come clean. My little brother didn't really say “Santa.” He said, “Grandma.” But the point is the same—WhatisAverage.com gives lets him anonymously suggest gift ideas to family members who haven't quite been able to keep up with the latest Tweener fads.

Looking for gift ideas? Browse my previous post, “Would you rather be remembered or appreciated this holiday?” and check out the top 10 results for “What do Tweeners want for the holidays?”

Would you rather be remembered or appreciated this holiday?

2009-12-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Everyone has received a random present that has either been: re-gifted, thrown away, or put straight into the attic (for us pack rats), but without thinking, you do remember the person who got it for you when remembering the present. Some family members give you the same present every year thinking that you like it, and consequently, you may be re-gifting the same present every year to another friend, family member, or white elephant gift exchange. It seems as if the holiday season comes around, you begin shopping, and that one family member always comes to mind because you remember the random present they sent you one Holiday or begin to chuckle at the idea of getting another bath and body works holiday pack when you still haven't got one use of last year's package. Picture courtesy of USAWeekend.com

As I look at the results of what people want for the holidays, allow me to help you out by letting you in on the top items requested this year: electronics, clothes, and gift cards. These are the top answers across most ages groups and demographics (see all results on WhatisAverage.com for further detail and breakdown by age group and demographic). Since most recipients are that vague when explaining what they would like for the holidays, I find gift cards to be a good gift. Furthermore, since very few stores carry all of those under one retail roof, Visa Gift Cards and Amazon.com gift cards could be in high demand this year. With a gift card, you may not be remembered, but at least you will be appreciated.

I'm sure you would like to try to get them something personal to go along with the gift card, but you know it's a re-gift, trashcan, or attic spot just waiting to happen. Think to yourself, do you ever remember the person who gave you a gift card for the holidays? Sure you do, just like you remember what the message was on the Christmas card the gift card came in, but aren't they often the most appreciated thing you receive? I find it difficult to directly ask for anything, but I have no problem spending that gift card selfishly when no one is looking. So it posses the question, “Would you rather be remembered or appreciated this holiday season?”

If you are looking for “to be remembered” ideas, I've listed some very popular items I've found to be requested in surveys, but just can't quite crack the top 10. They may be on the outside looking in, but definitely honorable mentions and a little more personable than gift cards if you don't mind the possible attic spot waiting to happen.

Weeworld and Meez are online gaming communities that are very popular among males ages 13-17.
Skinny Jeans were very popular for females ages 13-17.
For males ages 25-34, a new TV and video games dominated the wish list, but if you happen to know a hobby he has, look at specific accessories in that area. Hunting gear, fishing gear, golf equipment, and workout equipment were requested quite a bit.
Books were a favorite among females ages 25-34 but just missed the top 10. James Patterson and Dan Brown books seem to be very popular. If you know they enjoyed the Twilight Series books, check out The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris (True Blood Series on HBO).
A camera, a new TV, and clothes dominated the results for males ages 35-44. There were many other answers and this was the most diverse group among the survey recipients. I would recommend a nice sweater, pullover, pajamas, or shirt of their favorite professional or collegiate team.
While I've been told it's not good for husbands to buy wives items like a vacuum cleaner or microwave as presents, females ages 35-44 did request kitchen items like a food processor or “kitchen gadget” quite a bit. Diamonds, jewelry, and clothes were the most requested item for this group.

Follow up survey: “Would you rather be remembered or appreciated this Holiday?” A friendly reminder, no one on the site can see any answer you put to a survey.

Shareholders of Palm, Best Buy, and Aeropostale may be singing holiday cheer while Verizon, Sears, and Saks shareholders might have reason for Bah Humbug

2009-12-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

In the final weeks of the holidays last year (December 8 to January 5), Palm's stock price (PALM) more than doubled. The company recently caught my attention when I read the results of our latest “What do you want for the holidays?” survey. The Palm Pre surfaced as one of top cell phones consumers requested. Some of the speculation in the last year’s soaring price may been tied to the launch of the new low end Centro at $99 or it could have been the slight hint of positive news coming from the Motley Fool.

While past performance is not an indicator of future performance, the holidays are here again and Palm has released the Pre, available for just $79 on Amazon.com, or $20 less than the Centro last year. On top of that, Motley Fool has issued another favorable review. As if that weren’t enough, now we have a survey showing the Pre ranks higher on consumers’ wish lists than Verizon’s heavily advertised PDA and smart phones (Samsung, HTC, and Droid). This strong second-place showing for Palm could translate into greater demand for Palm’s shares, which stood at $11.67 when the market opened on Monday, December 7 .

The survey reflects the opinions of 3,800 consumers ages 13 to 44 asking “What do you want for the holidays?” Here’s how they responded when asked

18% indicated they wanted “A new cell phone” without specifying which model
Among the respondents who did name a specific phone, the iPhone was a runaway winner, named by 77% of these consumers
Approximately 8% put the Palm Pre atop their list—more than the Motorola Droid, HTC Hero, HTC Droid, and any Samsung phone, which cumulatively tallied only 3% of the responses
"Clothes" grabbed 45% of the responses and are the gift consumers want most for the holidays.
“A new TV” is the next most favored item at approximately 34%.

In the same trading period mentioned above (open on December 8th 2008 to close January 5th 2009), a few other stocks caught my attention: Aeropostale (ARO up +4.5%) and Best Buy (BBY up +25%) on the positive side and Verizon (VZ was down -4.47%), Sears (SH LD was down -13.92%), and Saks (SKS was down -19.71%) on the negative side.

While, Best Buy and Wal-Mart (WMT dropped -3.5% during this period last year) will probably dominate the new TV market now that Circuit City is out of the picture, Aeropostale may lead the way in the retail stocks. Of those respondents asking for “clothes” who named a particular clothing store, Aeropostale was the most requested clothing store at 36% followed by Hollister, American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, and then Hot Topic.

One thing is clear: If husbands, wives, parents and children buy what their loved ones really want for this year’s holiday season, these companies should post solid sales results for this quarter. I’ve published the full list of stocks I researched for this analysis. Please feel free to share and post comments.

To be fair to the companies listed in this blog, the follow up survey:

(Click on picture below to enlarge)

Remembering Our Military During the Holidays

2009-12-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

I recently polled a group of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in Baghdad, Iraq regarding some great last minute gifts to send overseas and the results were somewhat surprising. It is the holiday time here in the United States and while the Armed Forces will be working, a lot of them will still celebrate Christmas when they can. Unfortunately, there is no where for the troops to purchase the common Christmas items you and I enjoy like decorations, music, and even Christmas cookies. Little Christmas decorations to put up in an office/bunk were one of the most requested items. While CDs in general are always good gifts for the troops, CDs playing Christmas music were also requested. Along the same theme, Christmas Cookies, Chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate in general surfaced as great gifts. The summer time is difficult to send anything that will melt; however, I was assured this time of year is safe for chocolate. Some other great gift ideas that surfaced can be found on the current survey, “What should I send the service men and women overseas?” I was surprised at how little things can make a big impact, there are a lot of great gift ideas for under $5.

Grocery stores (Industry Index of Public Companies) could have some potential gain and positive marketing from the results of this survey. Whenever I check out at the grocery store, there is a basket of small items from $1-$5 available for purchase at the end of the checkout. I'm asked if I want to purchase the item of the week at the end of the checkout line, just like I'm asked if I want to super size my meal after ordering fast food. I am not sure what the close rate is on the item of the week; however, if they switched it up for the final weeks of Christmas with items from the survey to be sent to the troops “Any Soldier” box, I would imagine the close rate would soar, much like their close rate when soliciting donations at the beginning of breast cancer awareness month. The final step to the process would be a delivery to USPS at the end of the week and building a small additional margin into each product sold to cover the new flat rate costs for overseas shipping. Everyone wins in this scenario; 1) The Consumer gets a very easy way to donate 2) The Service Men and Women get items they want 3) The Store makes a marginal profit of all the items sold.

WhatisAverage.com is donating 100% of the proceeds of this survey to the Fisher House, an organization that provides free or low cost lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centers. I choose Fisher House because the same group of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines recommended them based on a survey of their fellow officers and enlisted. Regardless if you send an item that you purchase through the survey to a soldier overseas, the proceeds that WhatisAverage.com collects will go to Fisher House. This means if you want to purchase items like Chocolate Pretzels, Christmas Decorations, Christmas CDs, or any item listed on the survey, you could purchase them through the "What should I send the Service Men and Women overseas?” survey and still contribute to a worthy cause.

Generational Gap to the Future

2009-12-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

As I begin to picture the future of online shopping and what I hope WhatisAverage.com can be apart of, I see a world where consumers never see or hear live TV or Radio advertisements for new products but instead consumers filter out big business advertising campaigns and rely solely on a survey of thousands of like minded people for the best, most reliable product purchase. If an Uncle is searching for music to give as a gift to his Niece, the Uncle can sample similar demographic groups as the Niece and filter the survey group respondents down to whether or not they've ever heard The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd before accepting their response on which new mp3 to purchase. And when the Uncle does find the most recommended mp3 with their desired filters applied, he can upload it to his Niece's itunes with a note scrolling across her iPhone saying, “Merry Christmas from Uncle Jack, this is what good music sounds like” every time she plays it. It makes me wonder, what were the holidays were like prior to streaming music and online product recommendations?

I think of a time when consumers hadn't yet uncovered the business behind current so called consumer recommendation magazines and industry performance awards. It was a time before "75% of people don't believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements" and when people relied solely on advertising campaigns and magazines for the best idea of what new appliance to purchase or gift to get for their family members during the holidays. It was the time before “a person like me” was the most relied source for a product recommendation. It spurns the follow up survey for this week, “What did you get for the holidays prior to the invention of the Internet, Online Shopping, and Gift Cards?”

A look at the TV Series, Mad Men, gives us a look into the 1960s advertising world and the influence advertising companies used to have over consumers and large corporations. Now, the world is seeing much more innovation arising from small companies due to large firms' problems being hand-cuffed by incentives to executives and employees, single minded focus on current customers versus new markets, and risk adverse to new projects that may not generate sufficient return on investment. It makes me wonder what does the future hold for advertising giants and will bloggers, social media, and start up consumer to consumer recommendation services (like WhatisAverage.com) make them obsolete? One thing is certain, with the rise in broadband users, adoption of social networking, and improvements in technology, the advertising giants will continue to have challenges holding on to advertising revenue market share.

Thanks for reading the inaugural WhatisAverage.com Blog. The goal of the blog is to bring readers interesting thoughts for reflection using results from WhatisAverage.com. I will occasionally talk about topics like online shopping, consumer product recommendations, online and social media marketing, and while I DO NOT hold myself out as a giving investment advice, I like to look at potential companies that could benefit from data being displayed. Thanks again for visiting and be sure to check out the many useful surveys on WhatisAverage.com.

Each Blog will contain a current survey that I center the topic around and then a follow up survey that corresponds to further reflection I had while looking at the initial results. I’ll open the survey up for all to participate in the day I release the Blog.

Current Survey:

What Do You Want for the Holidays? (See applicable age group on site)

Follow Up Survey:

For consumers who had holidays prior to the invention of the Internet: “What did you get for the Holidays prior to the invention of the Internet, Online Shopping, and Gift Cards?”
For all age groups: "What is the Best Music Album ever?"