What is Buying Power? Who has it? And what are consumers spending on?
Today’s global marketplace has become increasingly diverse. To stay competitive, smart businesses need to know who makes buying decisions—something known as Buying Power. Organizations that learn how to appeal to women and diverse consumers will reap the rewards.
Here are five facts you need to know, from Catalyst’s new suite of Buying Power infographics.
- Globally, women are making more purchases. Today, women control or influence more than half of household spending.
- Expanding our economic power and increasing our spending. Currently women are responsible for $29 trillion of consumer spending globally, and that amount is predicted to grow to $40 trillion in the next three years.
- Especially in the United States, women buy BIG. Eighty percent of car sales are influenced by women, and women are closing the gap on consumer electronics purchases. Single women in the United States are buying homes, and have accounted for approximately one out of six home buyers since the 1990s.
- People of color wield economic clout. Eighty-six percent of Latinas identify themselves as the primary shopper and decision maker of the household—meaning that women control the majority of the $1.2 trillion of annual US Hispanic buying power. Asian households spend 21% more than the average household, due to their higher median household income. Black household wealth growth outpaced the national average at an annual real (adjusted for inflation) rate of 4.2 % from 1992 through 2007 (compared with 3.2% for national long-term growth).
- Same-sex households have more to spend. Same-sex-partnered households make 16% more shopping trips annually than the average US household. Because same-sex couples have fewer children in their households, they have a higher amount of discretionary income. Only 16% of same-sex couples have children, as compared to 40% of married opposite-sex couples. Of same-sex households, more than half report both partners working, compared to less than half of married opposite-sex couples.