Despite being the nations most consumptuous group of people, the things we buy the most give evidence on what captures our interest the most. The question comes down to "What do you spend your extra money on?" After an extensive study on the spending habits of Blacks on America, researchers found that Blacks spend the bulk of their extra earnings on products of looking good and feeling good.

Regardless of how much Black business people and educators attempt to offer financial alternatives to the masses of Blacks such as investing and saving, Blacks seem not to be listening. Consumer electronics and house wares were among the big gainers over 2000. Black women remained a growing influential force in black households, and they are the strongest new opportunity for marketers. In 2000 black households had $543 billion in earned income.

Among the most popular items purchased by Blacks, here is the top:

Housing and related charges . . . . . . . . . . .$128.1 billion
Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52.9 billion
New and Used Cars and Trucks. . . . . . . . . . .  31.3 billion
Apparel Products and Services . . . . . . . . . .  24.7 billion
Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14.4 billion
Household Furnishings and Equipment . . . . . . .  12.9 billion
Telephone Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12.3 billion 
Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8.6 billion
Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7.1 billion
Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6.1 billion
Transportation, Travel and Lodging. . . . . . . . . 5.3 billion
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 billion
Personal Care Products and Services . . . . . . . . 5.2 billion
Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 billion
Consumer Electronics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8 billion
Tobacco Products and Smoking Supplies . . . . . . . 2.7 billion
Beverages (Non-Alcoholic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 billion
Beverages (Alcoholic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 billion
Entertainment and Leisure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 billion
Appliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 billion
Toys, Games and Pets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7 billion
Computers and Related Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 billion
Housewares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943 million
Sports and Recreational Equipment . . . . . . . . . 392 million
Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 million

Copyright (c) 2001 Target Market News. All rights reserved. From "The Buying Power of Black America - 2001"

Basic necessities such as shelter, food, and clothing were high on the Black list of things-to-buy, as it would be on any group's list; however, Blacks spent exceedingly more on clothing than other ethnic groups did (not including whites), in addition to transportation and food.

Style and fashion in high status positions in society is important to many prestigious Blacks. They feel they have to "look the part" as well as act the part, (more on that acting part later). We sometimes spare no expense when it comes to our fashion statements so we overlook the economical and go with the expensive. Cutting back on appearance could save Blacks more than $10 billion plus make a powerful statement that we will not be exploited by capitalist manufacturing regimes that take advantage of our buying power.

We know that transportation is important in the Black community because we have to get to our jobs, which are most likely located 10 - 30 miles from where the Black community is predominantly concentrated. The same concept as clothing could be applied to automobile consumption. We often feel we "deserve" that Lexus or that Mercedes so we spend beyond our means just to prove to society (and our other Black neighbors) that we can have a piece of the "American pie" also. But whom are we really fooling, and who is really the fool? Another $10 billion could be used more efficiently from that area also.

All the money we deduce from our over-consumption could be put into the lower areas of our spending habits that would help us more, like education, business ventures, investing in ourselves and our communities, and much more than looking good and riding smooth. Look at the spending on food? Is this normal or is much of this spending on food wasted at eat-out restaurants and fast food joints? Believe it or not, more than half is spent at restaurants and not for home-cooked meals. This causes a rise in our health care expenses, which has exceeded $15 billion for 2002.

Evaluate the above list for yourself to see where our priorities lie. Is the list organized for the benefit of our growth, or our destruction? Moving the figures around - putting more into one area while taking away from another - is something Black economist should investigate and promote among the Black community because we need direction on spending our money as a whole.

Look at our spending on books, at the bottom of the list, compared to alcoholic beverage consumption. We spend more drinking than we do reading. Not to say we are the only group who does that, but if our priorities were in line, we could save more and learn more. (Remember, this list does not even include drug purchases). The desire for knowledge is one where spending should increase and not decrease. Look at the list carefully and decide how you will make a change in Black consumer spending.

© 2003 by AfroStaff