African-American Consumer Sentiment Unsurpassed In Total Market

Earlier this year, ThinkNow Research conducted its annual consumer sentiment study among a representative sample of U.S. Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and non-Hispanic whites. This is the third year we have conducted this study and it has now become one of the most widely cited consumer sentiment studies for its focus on multicultural consumers.

While our focus is on African-American consumers this month on our blog, our data goes into depth across all cohorts. For the full consumer sentiment outlook with a breakout of all cohorts, please go to our store to purchase the full report.

This year’s study comes on the heels of our recent shift in focus here at ThinkNow, away from solely Hispanic consumer insights, to that of a culturally-integrated market research agency, integrating Hispanic, African-American, and Asian insights into custom market research for companies and government agencies looking to thrive in a changing demographic environment.

And this environment proved to be especially beneficial to communities of color last year, as evident in the number jobs created. This is a welcomed change from the devastating unemployment rates which rose well above 10 percent during the worst years of the recession. In particular, after reaching a high of 16.8 percent in March 2010, the African American unemployment rate fell to 10.4 percent in December 2014. Between December 2013 and December 2014, African-Americans had the largest increase in the share of adults with a job and the largest increase in their labor force participation rate, translating to nearly 200,000 fewer unemployed African-American workers.

This promising economic shift was identified through our analysis of household income in which 4-in-10 African-Americans noted an improvement in their finances compared to last year. This is higher than non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and Asians:

This positive trend continues when we asked about their feelings towards this upcoming year in relation to their family finances:

This optimism bodes well for the consumer durable goods industry as African-Americans were more likely to purchase big-ticket items such as smartphones and large appliances in 2015 compared to 2014:

Lastly, this optimistic streak extends into 2016 as more African-Americans are planning to purchase a new vehicle in 2016 compared to 2015. The same is true of home electronics:

As African-American purchasing power reaches a tipping point in 2016, our data identifies a few industries that are likely to benefit from this trend: automotive, technology, and consumer durable goods.

If you’re in either one of these industries, now is a good time to take a serious look at your African-American marketing initiatives and make sure your messaging is on par with their expectations.

About the Author: Roy Eduardo Kokoyachuk
Roy is a Managing Partner at ThinkNow Research. He started his career at Warner Bros. Media Research. A desire to pursue multicultural market research full-time led him to join a full service Hispanic & multicultural market research company, in 2003 as Vice President of Advertising Research. He became Executive Vice President in 2006 and opened an operations center in Tijuana, Mexico and directed the company’s entry into online research. In 2009 he initiated the creation of the first nationally representative opt-in market research panel of U.S. Hispanics – CadaCabeza. This panel broke new ground in panel building by focusing on the recruitment of Spanish speaking Hispanics as well as the English speakers typically found on online panels. He co-founded ThinkNow Research to further pursue his passion for multicultural consumer insights.