African Americans have a powerful, unique cultural identity in American society, and
they have been increasingly on the leading edge for shaping major cultural trends.
Comprising more than 13 percent of the total U.S. population, around 43 million strong –
and current buying power of $1 trillion that is forecasted to reach $1.3 trillion by the year
2017 – African-Americans are more important to marketers than ever.
According to a recent report by Nielsen, African-Americans:
– Are more aggressive consumers of media and they shop more frequently.
– Watch more television (37%), purchase more ethnic beauty and grooming products (nine times more), read more financial magazines (28%) and spend more than twice the time at hosted websites than any other group.
– Make more shopping trips per year than the total U.S. total market and shop more frequently at drug stores, convenience stores, and dollar stores.
Not only are their purchasing behaviors unique, African-Americans also have distinct
behaviors in the digital and mobile spheres: they are more likely to spend time on
education/career websites and more likely to own a smartphone than the U.S. population
generally.
But just knowing the general statistics isn’t enough. Marketers must understand that
traditional research methods are unlikely to capture the strength of cultural identity and
complexity and depth of opinions and characteristics of this group. Capturing this
complexity requires in-depth, culturally relevant research – the kind New American
Dimensions has been doing for many years.
New American Dimensions has a long history of qualitative and quantitative research –
and studies that blend both – on the African American segment. On the qualitative side,
our extensive series of informal “barbershop sessions” encouraged black men to speak
more freely about marketing and media. With quantitative research, we are scrupulous
about developing questions and groups that help African Americans really be heard and
understood.