Getting to know tech-savvy consumers.

Nearly 6% of all consumers in the US are “digitally savvy,” according to Scarborough Research’s “Understanding the Digital Savvy Consumer” report.

The research company surveyed consumers with higher-than-average ownership of certain consumer electronics (such as DVRs, satellite radio or VoIP) and participation in certain Internet behaviors (such as blogging, downloading music and online gaming).

The group skewed male, young and wealthy.

More than one-half of respondents had spent over $500 online during the past year, and more than one-third spent over $1,000.

The digitally hip crowd is a good target for luxury marketers. Respondents were 56% more likely than the average consumer to own or lease a luxury vehicle, 175% more likely to have spent at least $500 on men’s or women’s business clothing during the past year and 49% more likely to own a second home.

It would be easy to view this digital demographic as having the same characteristics as the overall Internet population, only to a greater degree: more hours logged online, better-educated and more affluent. That is mostly true, with one main difference—females outnumber males in the overall Internet population, just as they do in the general US population.

The US Internet population in 2008 also skewed younger than the total US population: 40% are between the ages of 18 and 43, compared with about 38% of the general population. A greater percentage of high-income households are online compared with households with annual income below $50,000, according to Harris Interactive.

While one-quarter of Internet users were 18 to 29 years-old, Harris estimated that this age group made up just 22% of the general US population. The same held true for 30 to 39 year-olds (20% of Internet users versus 18% of the population) and 40 to 49 year-olds (21% versus 20%). By contrast, the Harris survey found that just 9% of Internet users were over age 65 even though this group makes up about 16% of the general population.

The same pattern held true for income and education levels: More people online had college or graduate degrees (30% of the online population versus just 26% of the general population) and belonged to households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 (53% of Internet users versus 51% of the general population).

Courtesy of http://www.www.emarketer.com