Media Audit: Minorities are shopping more online

Minority groups in America are increasingly turning to the online realm for their shopping. According to a recent report from The Media Audit of the 145 million (surveyed) online shoppers, 58 million are from a minority group.

by Kristina Knight

For the report, The Media Audit surveyed shoppers from 88 different cities in the nation.

Just over 17 million African-Americans were surveyed with 40% saying they shopped online. In 2003 only 20% were shopping online. More than 20% of shoppers said they make 5 or more purchases online each year and 10% said they make 10 or more purchases online each year.

Nearly 9 million Asian-Americans were surveyed with 70% saying they shopped online, up from 55% in 2003. Nearly half make at least 5 purchases online each year and more than 20% make 10 or more purchases online each year.

There were 23 million Hispanic-Americans surveyed, with 41% admitting to shopping online. That is an increase of nearly 20% over 2003 numbers. At least 23% make 5 purchases each year and 12% make 10 or more purchases each year.

What this means for etailers is that more balanced online ads should be launched to appeal to the different ethnic groups. Ads which appeal to the Caucasian population will not necessarily reach African-Americans or Asian-Americans; at the same time, ads targeted to African-Americans will not necessarily appeal to Hispanic-Americans.