Bi-Cultural Consumers

Understanding the ethnic consumer is one of the most difficult challenges facing brand marketers. One proxy to explain consumption differences across any ethnicity is to use language preference as a marker for acculturation. Research has shown English-speaking ethnic consumers to have consumption patterns similar to the general population. Conversely, the more culturally-dominant ethnic consumers may diverge from the general population in their consumption decisions. In between these two extremes is a population, often called bi-cultural consumers, which manifests a spectrum of language and consumption differences.

Language preference is one piece of a very complicated puzzle. To unravel the other dimensions, a consumption-driven acculturation model was created that uses a combination of nine demographic variables (including age, income, language preference, and more) to identify distinct consumer packaged goods consumer segments within the Hispanic population. The resulting culture point model describes the three segments of the population as follows:

• Least Acculturated — have consumption patterns that are most divergent from the general population and are primarily foreign born, with a high percentage of adults with no high school education.
  
• Most Acculturated — reflect consumption patterns that are very similar to the general population, and are primarily at least the second generation to be born in the United States.
  
• bi-cultural — of the three segments, bi-cultural consumers form the largest segment of the ethnic population (53%), and rather than being an amalgamation of most and least acculturated, comprise a distinct segment in their own right. bi-cultural consumers are the most difficult to describe because they are neither as culturally isolated as the least acculturated nor as fully integrated as the most acculturated.

Consumption Behavior of bi-cultural Consumers

Unlike the most and least acculturated, bi-cultural consumers do not tend toward a simple demographic profile. For instance, many of the most acculturated have at least some college education. A majority of the least acculturated never completed high school. The bi-cultural consumer's education profile is less intuitive: about one-third have a high school degree and another 22% stopped their education before the eighth grade.

As one would expect from such a demographically heterogeneous group, the consumption patterns within the bi-cultural segment as a whole do not track as neatly as the consumption patterns within the most and least acculturated segments. As a result, a multi-dimensional acculturation model is vital when targeting this consumer base.

Consumption patterns are very distinct between the three acculturation levels, and within the bi-cultural segment itself. The lesson here is twofold:

bi-cultural consumers cannot be described as mid points between the least and most acculturated segments. The bi-cultural segment is distinct from these other groups. As a result, bi-cultural consumers merit their own, unique marketing plans.

Executional strategies that are aimed at bi-cultural segments will be much more efficient when urbanization is taken into account. Effective trade strategies will take both the acculturation and urbanization of the shoppers into consideration.

Execution Strategies

The bi-cultural acculturation group is a collection of smaller segments that cannot be defined by acculturation measures alone. Therefore, effectively targeting this group requires the identification of the proper sub-segment (urban vs. non-urban, for example) and the ability to develop strategies around a precisely defined consumer group. Another example, while bi-cultural urban and non-urban consumers share some response patterns, efficiency can be gained with a precise consumer definition.

Conclusion

The importance of efficiently reaching bi-cultural consumers continues to grow. Used in isolation, language preference does not capture the breadth of diversity within the ethnic population, especially among bi-cultural consumers.

Augmenting language-based research allows the important bi-cultural segment to be understood. These consumers are grounded in both their cultural heritage and the larger American population. Given that they are the largest of the three segments, it is vital that marketers be able to efficiently reach these bi-cultural consumers.

VeraData can help.

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