The Power of African-American Consumers

Businesses need to understand the demands of African American consumers, while these diverse consumers need to understand their purchasing power.

To address the growing needs of the diverse African-American consumer group, Nielsen and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) have developed The State of the African-American Consumer Report.

Here are some of the key findings in the Nielsen report:

African-Americans are projected to spend $1.1 trillion annually by 2015. With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if African-Americans were a country, they’d be the 16th largest country in the world. Sixty-four per cent of African American women are in the U. S.  labor force.

The African-American community has seen growth in educational achievement at all levels, including high school, college, and graduate schools. Adults over the age of 25 have seen a higher positive percentage increase in educational attainment than those in the overall population.

 

Demographics

      The African-American community makes up 13.6% of the population of the United Statesand is projected to reach 14% over the next 10 years. This equates to populations of 42,071,000 and 47,587,000 for 2010 and 2020, respectively.

·         The African-American population, as a percentage of total population, is concentrated in the Southeastern states, the major urban areas in the New York to Washington, D.C., corridor, major industrial cities in the Midwest, Houston and Dallas in Texas and Los Angeles, California.

·         The average age for African-Americans is 32.1 with more than 47% under the age of 35.

·         The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64%, a rate close to 12% greater than the change in the overall population’s earning between 2000 and 2009.

·         The percentage of African-Americans attending college or earning a degree has increased to 45% for men and 53% for women (adults 25+).

Television

·         The average African-American household spends about seven hours, 12 minutes daily watching TV – 213 hours a month – which is 40% more viewing time spent than the overall population.

·         12.5 million African-American households helped make this year’s Super Bowl XLV the most watched Super Bowl ever.

Mobile

·         33% of all African-Americans own a smart phone.

·         African-Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to Whites – 1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.

·         African-Americans send/receive on average 907 text messages

·         African-Americans may spend less on each shopping trip, but they make the most trips – 167 – annually of any other group.

·         African-Americans in higher income brackets, spend 300% more in higher-end retail grocers, more than any other high income household.

·         African-Americans over-index on purchases of health and beauty products, household cleaning items, clothes, food and electronics to name a few.

Online

·         During July 2011, there were 23.9 million active African-American internet users.

·         African-Americans are 30% more likely to visit Twitter. T

·         Top online purchases for African-Americans in the last six months included:

§  Airline tickets/reservations

§  Hotel reservations

§  Any clothes/shoes/accessories

§  Women’s clothes/shoes/accessories

§  Men’s clothes/shoes/accessories

This is information worth discussing.  Share your thoughts and comments.

Posted in: African American consumers,Culture,Nielsen Report,Ntl Newspaper Publishers Assn,State of the African American Consumer Report,The Emerald Quill