Simultaneous Media Usage Similarities & Differences Among Black, Hispanic & White Consumers.

When it comes to retail shopping behaviors, Whites, Blacks and Hispanics have more in common than differences according to a special analysis of over 12,000 respondents to BIGresearch’s newest Simultaneous Media Usage survey. However, media usage is much more divergent among these groups. An example of this is Wal-Mart, the #1 store shopped most often for both women’s and men’s clothing for Blacks, Hispanics and Whites. Each consumer group also rates Payless Shoes #1 for buying shoes and Best Buy for electronics.

“When marketers address Blacks or Hispanics strictly by demographics or socio-economic indicators, they automatically view them as being different from the norm. However, actual shopping behaviors are better indicators because they show the similarities and differences are two sides of the same coin, not opposites,” said Joe Pilotta, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at BIGresearch. “While each group shops most often at Wal-Mart for men’s and women’s clothing, a much higher percentage of Blacks and Hispanics shop for health and beauty aides at Walgreens and CVS. It may be more appropriate to view consumers as a group who shop at Wal-Mart of which some happen to be Black, some Hispanic and others White, with each group shopping at Wal-Mart for different merchandise with differences perhaps greater within their own grouping,” said Pilotta.

However, when it comes to media usage Blacks, Hispanics and Whites have more differences than commonalities. “One commonality is that Blacks, Hispanics and Whites each choose radio as the background media of choice when using other media,” said Pilotta, “but when it comes to the cable networks each watch, there are few similarities.”

“Marketers must first be aware of behaviors, tastes and preferences of various consumer groups then how cultural differences show themselves. Marketers who automatically place consumers in silos run the risk of ‘minoritizing’ certain ethnic groups and may miss the continuous changes in tastes that are occurring,” said Pilotta.

Pilotta is co-author of Communication and Social Action Research. To receive a free copy of Chapter 8, “The Politics of ‘Social Difference’: Consequences of Socially Conditioned Inactivism,” CLICK below:

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