Growth Market: African-Americans in 2010

Articles
January 20, 2010

No doubt Hispanics are a hot population for CPG brand marketers and retailers that are tailoring assortments and formats to their needs. Why not?

No doubt Hispanics are a hot population for CPG brand marketers and retailers that are tailoring assortments and formats to their needs. Why not? The 2010 U.S. Census report will probably show 50 million Hispanics living in the United States and 42 million African-Americans.

But brand marketers would be wise to look beyond these macro figures and tailor to Black households in similar, culture-friendly ways. A new BET study based on Census data, “African-Americans in 2010,” shows them to be a growth market with plenty of upside.

For example:

  • More lifetime value in their role as customers. Nearly half of the African-American population (47%) is in the prime-spending group of 18 to 49 years olds, and they average six years younger than U.S. consumers overall.
  • Rising affluence. A 47% surge over the past five years in the number of African-American households that earn $75,000+ annually outpaces such growth in the total population by 1.5 times.
  • More African-American households than Hispanic households. Hispanics have larger families, but the U.S. has more small Black households.
  • Increasingly suburban.  By 2015, more than half of all Blacks will live in suburbia, with the wide-ranging purchase needs of current suburban households.
     

Maybe marketers’ eyes had turned elsewhere, but these study insights ought to compel both CPG and retailers to leverage the aspects of their brands and stores that appeal to African-Americans. At a time when growth markets are hard to find, this one is huge and should be cultivated with the right mix of brand names, quality goods, lasting values, and smaller packages and single-servings where appropriate for the smaller households.