Black Women Are More Heavily Influenced By Online Product Information.

Black women Internet users are more heavily influenced by online information about the products they buy than white women Internet users, suggests a new research report based on an online survey of over 1,700 women by NiaOnline.com

Nearly 65 percent of African-American respondents to the survey said they frequently or almost always visit the web site of a product when deciding to purchase it, compared with 58 percent of white respondents. Furthermore, 16 percent of African-American respondents said their favorite web sites have a major influence on purchase decisions, versus 12 percent of white respondents.

“This makes the Internet an especially effective medium for marketers hoping to reach black families,” says Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, who is founder, president and CEO of Nia Enterprises, LLC, which owns the black women’s interest web community NiaOnline.com. The Chicago-based research and marketing services company administered the survey during Winter 2004-2005 to its opt-in, permission-based online Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP), which reaches over 125,000 African-American household members, as well as members of other ethnic groups.

Its results are included in the 2005 NiaOnline Research Monitor: The African-American Household Online, which examines how black women are adopting and using the Internet, as well as how they are influenced by it in their buying decisions. The report also compares black women Internet users to their white counterparts, as well as to average black female demographic characteristics contained in U.S. Census data. It is the first major, independent research report to put a spotlight on the black female consumer online. The report also includes research conducted by NiaOnline during June 2005 on the impact of culturally relevant messages to black women’s purchase decisions.

“We decided to focus on black women online because more black women are the primary decision-makers in their households than women of other U.S. ethnic groups,” says McKissack. “If you want to reach the black family, you really need to connect with women.”

For more information at http://www.niaonline.com/