Wilmington, Delaware area consumers are expected to spend upward of $9.7-billion at retail in 2021. This would be, at minimum, a 6.5% jump over 2020. The forecast is based on newly released estimates by the National Retail Federation.

“Despite the continuing health and economic challenges COVID-19 presents, we are very optimistic that healthy consumer fundamentals, pent-up demand and widespread distribution of the vaccine will generate increased economic growth, retail sales and consumer spending,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

“From the outset of the pandemic, retailers have gone above and beyond even the most conservative safety guidelines to protect and serve their associates and consumers alike."

To capture the largest possible share of spending growth, local retailers will need to advertise. By the most crucial marketing metrics, the best best way to reach consumers is by advertising on Wilmington radio.

There are 30 radio stations in the Wilmington, Delaware area. Each provides a unique format of news, sports, music, entertainment, and inspiration. Some stations broadcast in English. Others serve Spanish speakers. Some stations cater to millennials. Others appeal to Baby Boomers.  No doubt, there is a local radio station that fulfills the preferences of every listener.

Each week, according to Nielsen, 505,000 adults tune-in to their favorite Wilmington radio stations. This is more people than watch local TV, cable, or streaming channels. This is more than use Facebook and Instagram. This is more than read newspapers or connect to Pandora and Spotify. 

Despite the abundance of Wilmington radio stations to choose between, Nielsen reports that, on average, adult consumers only listen to 2.1 each week.  So, which stations do local consumers choose?

How important is Twitter to Delaware consumers? Yesterday, for instance, the social media platform was mentioned in at least ten articles published by the Wilmington News Journal yesterday.  Almost every local TV newscast included references to the site as well.

Twitter's outsized presence in the news, however, is enormously disproportional to the importance of the micro-blogging app in the life of Wilmington's consumers.

According to Nielsen, only about 17% of adults in Wilmington use Twitter during the course of a month. This is minuscule compared to other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter offers 20 different options that Wilmington small business owners can utilize to market their goods and services to local consumers.  The platform's minimal reach, however, can hamper the success of any advertising campaign.

On July 22, 1922, WDEL signed-on as the first radio station serving Wilmington, Delaware

For almost 100 years, small business owners have depended on local radio stations to successfully market their goods and services through depressions, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. Even now, during a pandemic, advertising on Wilmington radio remains a dependable way to make cash registers ring.

Here are five facts every Tri-State area small business owner needs to know about local radio in 2020.

Almost 96% of Tri-State area adults have access to the internet, according to Nielsen. Over than 60% of these consumers spend more than five hours a week connected.

Nielsen reports that Wilmington area consumers go online to stay connected to friends and family; research products and services; learn the latest news, and obtain directions to where they are going and know what the weather will be when they get there.  

Here are some of the many reasons why Wilmington internet users go online each month

• Social Media: 81%
• Online Banking: 59%
• Weather: 50%
• Maps/Directions: 50%
• Product Reviews: 48%
• Current Events: 31%
• Restaurant Reviews: 27%
• Sports Scores/News: 25%
• Job Search: 19%
• Real Estate: 12%

And, of course, there is shopping.  Over the past six months, according to Nielsen, 78.7% of Tri-State area consumers shopped online for every imaginable product and service including, cars, golf clubs, office supplies, wedding rings, mattresses, tires, medicine, shoes, socks, and eyeglasses.

To reach local consumers while they are online, Wilmington businesses will spend $183 million for digital advertising in 2020, according to Borrell Associates.  Here is how the money is being spent:

Tri-State shoppers are expected to spend a record $1.8 billion online in 2020, based on the most recent projections from eMarketer. This would represent year-over-year growth of 32.4%.

During the same period, according to eMarketer, receipts at brick-and-mortar stores have contracted by 3.2%.  Overall, excluding gas and auto sales, e-commerce will account for 20.6% of all retail sales this year.

The Coronavirus pandemic is credited with this seismic shift in shopping behavior as consumers continue to avoid stores and opt for online shopping.

“We’ve seen e-commerce accelerate in ways that didn’t seem possible last spring, given the extent of the economic crisis,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “While much of the shift has been led by essential categories like grocery, there has been surprising strength in discretionary categories like consumer electronics and home furnishings that benefited from pandemic-driven lifestyle needs.”

Even before the onset of the pandemic, 78.7% of Wilmington area consumers had bought goods online over the prior six months, according to Nielsen research. Purchases included clothing, health & beauty products, travel reservations, books, furniture, and groceries.

Suppose you woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in your basement. You soon discovered that every time you put a dime in the machine, one dollar came out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Tri-State area small business owners: such a machine exists and you probably have one in your car, at work, at home, even on your phone. It's called Wilmington radio.

Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted over 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business can expect from radio advertising.  Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for ever $10 invested.  Turning dimes into dollars.

You've done the research. You now know that by every measure, radio advertising is the most effective way for your Tri-State area small business to market its goods and services.

You have learned, for instance, 500,115 adult consumers regularly tune-in to AM/FM radio stations.  This is more than watch local TV, read a newspaper, sign-in to social media, or log-in to streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify.

You've also learned that, on average, adults spend almost two hours per day listening to local radio.

If you dug deep enough, then you know radio advertising delivers, on average, a $10 lift in sales for every $1 invested. This is a remarkable return for any Tri-State small business owner.

What you may not have figured out, however, is what is the best time of day to advertise on Wilmington radio?

It's time to set some misguided Tri-State Area small business owners straight.  When we say everybody listens to Wilmington radio stations, we mean everybody.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Baby boomers, and, yes, the millennial generation.

You know...millennials. Those are the "kids" who came of age at the turn of the millennium (which is, debatably, either 2000 or 2001).  This means 18-39 year olds. 

In the Tri-State Area, 207,300 millennials make-up 36% of the adult population and will deliver $4.8 billion to local cash registers.

But here's the thing about millennials that many small business owners get wrong: millennials listen to local radio.  To be exact, 88.6% of them.