By Steven Barboza
Black females are a commanding force in the U.S. economy. Yet for all their economic prowess, their needs and preferences remain a mystery in boardrooms and brand strategy sessions. For lack of knowing what moves these super-consumers, many marketers resort to a one-message-fits-all-consumers approach that’s often unsuitable for black females.
“Most advertisers just don’t get us,” said Sarah Lattimer, president and CEO of Lattimer Communications, an advertising agency specializing in the African American female market. “They don’t understand us. They don’t know how to sell to us, how to talk to us. They don’t know what makes us make the decisions to purchase or not to purchase their products.”
The vast majority of African-American consumer spending is done by females. Some marketers say 85 cents of every $1 spent by blacks last year was spent at the influence of black females. Others estimate black female buying power at upwards of $565 billion last year alone. Either way, the buying habits of this group of consumers could well decide the fortunes of many of the world’s largest corporations.
And yet, many companies, unsure of how to target the market, are stumbling in their efforts to reach black women. In effect, a large number of the nation’s 22 million black females are ineffectively served – and corporations are leaving untold billions of dollars in potential profits on the table.
“I’ll never forget it: one black woman told me that no matter how much Pantene she uses, she will never be able to fling her hair around like the [white] women in those TV commercials,” said Lattimer, relaying the frustration of a participant in a national study of black female consumers.
Lattimer added, “There are certain industries that do a terrible job – automotive, financial services, health care, travel. I don’t think they think [black females] have money or that we’re traveling.”
The Lattimer Communciations study found that 86% of black females believe advertisers need to do a better job understanding and marketing to them.
The buying power of the nation’s 40 million African-Americans, some 13% of the U.S. population, was $910 billion last year, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Their economic muscle is mightier than the gross domestic product of Russia or India.
Despite feeling slighted by marketers, African-American females – who comprise 55% of the black population, compared to 52% females in the overall U.S. population – are much more influential than the general female population in consumer transactions. In fact, black females make the lion’s share of buying decisions among African-Americans.
“Black women make 85% of the brand purchasing decisions of black consumers,” said Miriam Muléy, CEO of the 85% Niche, a marketing consulting firm that focuses on women and women of color as key consumers. The general population of females make 62% of brand-buying decisions, according to other researchers.
Muléy cited RL Polk and Yankelovich studies pointing out that black women account for 58% of all new cars and trucks purchased by African Americans, compared to 44% of women in the general population; that black women spend $57 billion on food items per year, and that black females spend 30% more than the general market on personal/beauty products. Facial skin-care products have grown to an estimated $20 billion category worldwide.
A Yankelovich study conducted for a women’s marketing conference found that 59% of women feel misunderstood by food marketers, 66% by health care providers, 74% by automotive marketers, and 84% by investment marketers.
Being misunderstood only leads to being underserved. It’s tough for women to find jeans that hug their curves properly, or for women to get financial advice without feeling patronized, researchers note. This is especially sad, considering U.S. females spend $5 trillion a year.
As a global economic force, women move world markets. They spend $20 trillion a year, and represent the world’s largest market opportunity, one that is more than twice the size of China and India combined, according to Michael J. Silverstein, senior partner in the Boston Consulting Group’s Chicago office and co-author of “Women Want More,” a book about the female economy.
