E5 is the third largest urban consumer segment in terms of household strength and fourth largest in terms of population, comprising 8.7% of the urban population—there are 2.85 million people in the 694,000 households in this segment. Given their low educational achievements—41% of the chief wage earners have the highest qualification of finishing school—incomes are low. Median household income is Rs1.03 lakh and 85% of the households earn less than Rs3 lakh a year. Household size is generally higher in this segment—72% having three or four members—compared with the E segments taken up so far. There is variation here, too, and in the smaller towns, household sizes are larger, exceeding five in Alwar, Aligarh, Gwalior, Purbi Singhbhum, Bhagalpur, Indore, Bikaner and Kanpur Nagar. The higher household size is thanks to the young children—most households have one or two minors; only 25% have more than two children. This is an urban trend, to have smaller families, even in relatively lower income groups. Clearly, parents are aiming to give their children a better life than they have had and this includes not just clothing and feeding them better with the latest market offerings, but also raising their education standards, sending them to English-medium private schools, providing for tuition classes, etc. Households spend on an average 3.9% of their budget on educational expenses. Chief wage earners in this segment are predominantly self-employed, yet 42% have salaried jobs. Again here, the presence of children makes for a greater need for regular income; there would be some in this group who may have tried their hand at being a small entrepreneur but have failed in their younger years. Now older in age, with more family commitments, stability is more important; this is, after all, the middle years segment—43% of the chief wage earners are in the 35-44 year age group, the highest share among all the E segments. The dominant sector of employment is wholesale and retail trade, comprising a 26% share, a sector that offers ample opportunity for those with low skills or business aspirations. Manufacturing is a close second at 24%, transport and communication take up 14%, while construction and real estate-related activities, 11%. Businesses would be essentially small enterprises, while those in salaried jobs would be working mainly in private proprietorship companies. Around 11% do have jobs with the government or public sector companies, while 7% have jobs with private limited companies. Among the latter, given the low educational qualifications, the jobs would be at the lowest rungs in different departments. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Coimbatore are the urban districts with more than 100,000 households in the E5 segment.

1. Predominantly Self Employed
Published: Mint dated 3rd May 2010
This is the 20th in a 33-
part series on distinct
consumer segments,
based on a categorization
of stage of life and
occupation, expenditure
and savings propensity,
family structure and
psychographics. This
week we look at E5--
school-educated, married
with young children.
Indicus Consumer Segment

2. This week we take up the E5 segment—households where the chief wage earner is
school-educated and in the middle years, and married with young children. When it
comes to family structure, there is a distinction in this segment—it includes
businessmen living in joint or nuclear families and skilled workers in nuclear families.
Households where the chief wage earners are skilled workers but stay in a joint
family show separate characteristics from those who stay in nuclear families; these
households form a unique segment F3, which will be taken up later. Put in another
way, given the same educational qualifications and life stage, skilled workers who
stay in nuclear families share the same characteristics as businessmen—a pointer
to the common aspirational level and independent mindset of the chief wage earners
in these groups.
E5 Indicus Consumer Segment

3. E5 is the third largest urban consumer segment in terms of household
strength and fourth largest in terms of population, comprising 8.7% of the
urban population—there are 2.85 million people in the 694,000 households
in this segment.
Given their low educational achievements—41% of the chief wage earners
have the highest qualification of finishing school—incomes are low. Median
household income is Rs1.03 lakh and 85% of the households earn less
than Rs3 lakh a year.
Household size is generally higher in this segment—72% having three or
four members—compared with the E segments taken up so far. There is
variation here, too, and in the smaller towns, household sizes are
larger, exceeding five in Alwar, Aligarh, Gwalior, Purbi
Singhbhum, Bhagalpur, Indore, Bikaner and Kanpur Nagar.
The higher household size is thanks to the young children—most
households have one or two minors; only 25% have more than two
children. This is an urban trend, to have smaller families, even in relatively
lower income groups. Clearly, parents are aiming to give their children a
better life than they have had and this includes not just clothing and feeding
them better with the latest market offerings, but also raising their education
standards, sending them to English-medium private schools, providing for
tuition classes, etc. Households spend on an average 3.9% of their budget
on educational expenses.
Indicus Consumer Segment

4. Chief wage earners in this segment are predominantly
self-employed, yet 42% have salaried jobs. Again here, the
presence of children makes for a greater need for regular
income; there would be some in this group who may have
tried their hand at being a small entrepreneur but have
failed in their younger years. Now older in age, with more
family commitments, stability is more important; this
is, after all, the middle years segment—43% of the chief
wage earners are in the 35-44 year age group, the highest
share among all the E segments.
The dominant sector of employment is wholesale and
retail trade, comprising a 26% share, a sector that offers
ample opportunity for those with low skills or business
aspirations. Manufacturing is a close second at
24%, transport and communication take up 14%, while
construction and real estate-related activities, 11%.
Indicus Consumer Segment

5. Businesses would be essentially small
enterprises, while those in salaried jobs would
be working mainly in private proprietorship
companies. Around 11% do have jobs with
the government or public sector
companies, while 7% have jobs with private
limited companies. Among the latter, given
the low educational qualifications, the jobs
would be at the lowest rungs in different
departments.
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Thane, Pune, Che
nnai, Ahmedabad, North 24
Parganas, Kolkata, Coimbatore are the urban
districts with more than 100,000 households
in the E5 segment.
Indicus Consumer Segment