Touted as the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, multicultural consumers have another advantage in the marketplace: They’re young and living longer. With a growing youthful and receptive audience, marketers can cultivate and build relationships early—establishing trust and brand loyalty, according to Nielsen’s The Multicultural Edge: Rising Super Consumers.
In 2014, U.S. multicultural consumers collectively represented more than half of the population under age 9, versus 35% of those 45-50 and only 17% of those 80 or older, illustrating how each successive generation is showing a more multicultural skew. In a global economy, the youth of America’s population driven by a vibrant multicultural population will increasingly become an advantage for the long-term growth of many consumer goods and services for years to come. The median age in this country is 37.4, according to U.S. Census data, which is younger than the average adult in Russia (38.2), U.K. (40.1), France (40.4), Germany (45.1) and Japan (45.6). The substantial age difference between the median age of U.S. multiculturals (30.5) and non-Hispanic whites (42) shows how multicultural populations are driving the vitality of the nation’s economy.
Youthfulness isn’t the only driver of marketing opportunity. Coupled with longer life expectancy, multicultural consumers can be reached in a more cost-efficient manner over time as their effective years of buying power are substantially greater than non-Hispanic whites. The U.S. life expectancy for multicultural consumers is at its highest level ever, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effective years of buying power for African-Americans (42.3 years), Asian-Americans (52.3 years) and Hispanics (56.5 years) all exceed that of non-Hispanic whites (36.7 years). Spending smart marketing dollars on multicultural consumers today will result in many more years of consumption and consumer loyalty throughout their lifetime, and it can increase the return on investment of those dollars spent.