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U.S. Demographics are Changing… Are Your Marketing Plans Ready?

March 10, 2010

Tom Pirovano, Director of Industry Insights

If you live in the U.S., you’re starting to hear more and more about the upcoming census. Even before we get data back from the country-wide headcount, we know that America’s demographic profile is undergoing major changes. By 2050, more than half of the U.S. population will be non-white (African-American, Asian, Hispanic). This dynamic growth represents not only significant cultural shifts, but also one of the more remarkable marketing opportunities in history. By that same 2050 milestone, the economic opportunity for brands in the multicultural CPG space is projected to exceed $500B.

multi-cultural-growth

Being able to keep pace with these increasingly diverse and demanding segments will require marketers to have a detailed view of what ethnic households buy as well as how they consumer media across TV, Internet and Mobile. When compared against the general population, minority households tend to over-index on some key shopping and media metrics.

Topline Multicultural Buying Insights

When compared to the general population, on average…

Hispanic Shoppers

  • Tend to spend more on categories for babies and children — (Hispanic households represent 11.8% of CPG total spending, but 16.6% of disposable diaper sales.)
  • Tend to spend more in traditional mass merchandise and warehouse clubs
  • Tend to spend more on food consumed at home

African American Shoppers

  • Tend to spend more on health and beauty products, like fragrance (African Americans represent 11.0% of CPG total spending, but 20.3% of dollars spent in beauty supply stores.)
  • Tend to spend more in drug and dollar stores
  • Tend to spend more on ingredients used to cook from scratch
  • Tend to buy fewer items on deals or with coupons
  • Tend to spend more on food consumed at home

Asian American Shoppers

  • Tend to spend more in club stores (Asian Americans represent 3.0% of CPG total spending, but 5.5% of dollars spent in warehouse clubs.)
  • Tend to spend more on categories for babies and children
  • Are more likely to eat outside of the home

Topline Multicultural Media Insights

Hispanic Media Consumers

  • Strong following of Telenovelas
  • On average, watch more broadcast and satellite TV
  • Display higher usage of mobile internet

African American Media Consumers

  • Have the highest TV usage of any demographic at nearly 80 hours a week per household
  • Have a higher percentage of multi-set households
  • Display higher usage of mobile internet

Asian American Media Consumers

  • More likely to have newer technology (DVD, HD, Digital Cable)
  • Tend to watch less TV


While each group has many layers of cultural, economic and social diversity within, these broader trends are worth noting, and planning for, if marketers are to meet the needs of their fastest growing consumer base.

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  • @SheenaLara

    I can’t help but notice a couple things here.

    1) The use of the words “General Population”to describe people who are not Asian, Latino, or Black, in other words “White” people.

    2) It seems that these Topline Insights reflect cultural stereotypes. It makes me wonder if “Hispanics” really like Novellas more than I thought. And wow, do Blacks really watch the most TV out of the group? So where is the report this info was gleaned from, kind of a “I’ll believe it when I see it” thing.

    3) Finally, you say these two things:
    “Being able to keep pace with these increasingly diverse and demanding segments will require marketers to have a detailed view of what ethnic households buy as well as how they consumer media across TV, Internet and Mobile.”

    “While each group has many layers of cultural, economic and social diversity within, these broader trends are worth noting, and planning for, if marketers are to meet the needs of their fastest growing consumer base.”

    I don’t necessarily disagree with these statements, but it says to me that we should be able to figure out how to market to these broad groups and learn where they spend their money, without learning about who they are AS A CULTURE. Which can lead to mistakes and offensive ads thereby losing your potential consumers.

    To all marketers out there wanting to get in on the Multicultural Marketing segment, do yourselves a favor and LEARN ABOUT THE CULTURE you want to target first.

  • Miguelito Lehman

    Rolling up the Hispanic and Asian markets into individual Ethnic segments is too simplistic. The Hispanic market is not one on the basis of acculturation (including language preferences, education, social prominance, etc.) and cultural heritage (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, etc.) Years of extensive research has shown more divergence than convergence in their consumer and media exposure behavior when the acculturation and cultural heritage factors come into play.

    This being the case, conasider the “Asian” market with challanges that boggle the marketing and media mind. Differences in nationalities, languages, religions. Which dialect of Chinese or Hindi will you advertise in? This arena will be a far more difficult to come to grips with than the Hispanic market.

    The next 40 years will be most interesting.

  • oosik1

    It is intriguing to see how market segments divided along cultural lines. Viewing the disparity between a group's numeric contribution to the total populace, and thier disposable spending is concentrated in certain markets. It begs the question, if minority groups grow as predicted, will their individual market spending grow proportionately, or will these trends shift in accordance with the unique popular culture of each group. Also this article doesn't break down spending between the sexes. It would aid marketers to know whether they should tailor their ads towards males or females of the target market.
    The study provides interesting insight but requires research.

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