Magazine Fall 2010

Selling to Many Cultures — Within the U.S.

Too many companies do not effectively target growing ethnic and immigrant markets within the U.S.

Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Wong Reading Time: 4 min 

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Image courtesy of PepsiCo.

International markets have been increasingly important for many U.S. companies, and they are the assumed priority for future growth. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is representative: In 1998 it obtained 6% of its revenue internationally; by 2008, international revenues constituted 25% of Wal-Mart’s much larger sales base. No growth-minded executive should argue against such initiatives.

But while many companies have plans to penetrate emerging markets like the so-called B-R-I-C nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), too many continue to overlook enormous opportunities within the U.S. — such as growing ethnic markets. The combined African-American and Hispanic markets in the U.S. are larger than the economies of all but 13 countries, and more than 2 million people in the country speak Chinese. White people, 67% of the U.S. population in 2005, will represent less than half of the population (47%) by 2050, while Latinos will be nearly 30%, Blacks 13% and Asians 9% by then. What’s more, a 2009 Pew Research Center study indicated that one in five Americans will be immigrants in 2050 (versus one in eight in 2005), thanks to a foreign-born population that is growing at almost three times the rate of the overall U.S. population.

However, a superficial understanding of these data can lead to uninformed beliefs — and needlessly high costs — in selling to ethnic markets within the U.S. Our experience indicates that many current “multicultural marketing” efforts are both limited and limiting because they lump groups into broad categories that do not reflect actual purchase preferences and buying behavior. For example, the term “Asian-American” refers to a very diverse array of groups, and recent immigrants from Vietnam and India may not have that much in common when it comes to buying behavior.

Companies must go beyond gross demographic data in order to craft effective strategies for marketing to specific ethnic groups. What languages other than English do these customers speak? What are the countries of origin of different Asian or Hispanic groups in a given market, and what are the implications for your website, product literature, retail locations and other marketing variables?

Rewards for this type of analysis can be significant. After rethinking its initiatives, PepsiCo Inc. found profit opportunities in taking a sophisticated multicultural approach to its home market and existing product line. Targeted winners in the U.S.

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About the Authors

Frank V. Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, where he teaches strategy and entrepreneurial management. Michael Wong is a principal at Cobbs Creek Healthcare LLC.

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Comments (3)
hari
This is an area that 2 countries in South East Asia has been doing particularly well.  Their population since the birth of the nation has been multiracial and multi cultural.  Hence marketers have had to disect and focus their marketing plans on several niche areas that pertain the uniquness of the population.  Oh, btw, the two countries I mention above are Malaysia and Singapore.
Edwin Martinez
Selling to Multicultural with in the US

    This update is an interesting article for all companies to read considering the demographic changes occurring in the US. Too often a group like Hispanics and Asians are lumped into one segment. However that  is a mistake most companies make when thinking of these groups. For example Puerto Ricans and Mexican both speak Spanish but are so different in terms of their status and opportunities in the US. These characteristics also impact their buying and purchasing power.

 
As someone who has worked in the MULTICULTURAL and DIVERSITY fields for over 20 years, I have seen where the power of Employee Network Groups can and do assist companies who know how to take advantage of their intellectual capital that these groups bring to their corporations.  These groups often represent the ethnic markets that companies need to target in a more precise manner. I would also add that in order to do this right you need to have flexibility organizing the groups. Putting all Asians in one group proved to be a disaster in one company because of the vast differences that existed among these subgroups. Companies need to recognize these differences among their employees and allow them to bring what they know to the work place and use this to better understand their customers. Still given the numerous high Tech, PHARMACEUTICAL, and CONSUMER PACKAGING firms that I have worked with, I have also seen some "ENGS" that should have combined ethnic subgroups since their numbers in terms of staff were not that large to begin with and having a sufficient share of voice is important.   Finally, one point that is missing from the article is my  observation of some firms that start such Multicultural initiatives, only to drop it a few months later when there is a change in leadership.
If you need advice RE: such matter, feel free to contact me.

Edwin Martinez
610-630-1339
tatytoo@aol.com
Wanla Cheng
A well thought-out well-argued article.  Being the owner of a multicultural consultancy, I agree with all the points made by the two authors. While the larger U.S. corporations are investing in marketing to Hispanic Americans, not enough are mining the business potential with Asian Americans who comprise a market segment of superlatives:  the most affluent, the best educated, the most technology-oriented, etc.