Targeting our changing nation, by the numbers
By Kay Anderson, Director of market research -- Furniture Today, February 17, 2002
Please don't dismiss the demographic statistics beginning on page 8 of this issue as merely an academic exercise. Remember, these are real people we're talking about, the ones you want to come into your store and buy your furniture.
We may need to rethink some of our definitions. The debate about whether we should call people with African heritages African Americans or blacks continues. Some in the Hispanic community prefer to be called Latinos — or Latinas, if they're female. Some say either term is too broad and we should think in terms of Cuban or Mexican or Panamanian.
There's a proposal before the Boston city council to ban the use of the word minority because some people believe it is used pejoratively. And Asian Americans will tell you that Asia is a continent, not a race or even an ethnic group.
Currently, in demographic parlance, anyone who is not a non-Hispanic white is a "minority." (My apologies to every English teacher who lectured me on the sins of double negatives.) In plain English, a "minority" is less than 50%. The two definitions already are at odds in 48 of America's 100 largest cities, where more than half the population belongs to a "minority."
We can see the future in our under-18 population. Currently, 39% of them belong to a minority group. Birth rates among minorities are significantly higher than among the non-White majority.
Also worth noting: Not everyone sees themselves as black or white or Asian or some other single racial name. For the first time in 2000, Americans could claim more than one race on census forms. This time around, only 2% did. But those under 18 were twice as likely to claim a mixed racial heritage. Times, as the song says, they are a-changin'.
It doesn't take a highly trained statistician with elaborate models (although I appreciate their efforts and expertise) to figure out that the racial and ethnic makeup of Americans will continue to change. America's cultural identity has never been static. Each group of immigrants, beginning with those at Jamestown, brought the best — and occasionally the worst — of their society with them. One strength of American culture, and the adventurous souls who created it, has been the ability to recognize the difference and morph the best into something distinctly American.
What does all this mean to furniture marketers? In the wake of Sept. 11, some marvelous TV ads have featured people of various backgrounds saying, "I am an American." They make the point succinctly. As marketers, whether of furniture or something else, we need to recognize that our customers are not milk that has been homogenized.
It means we will be challenged by our diverse audience and rewarded when we take the time to understand it. Demographics change one neighborhood at a time, and we need to look at how our neighborhood is changing.
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