Over the past decade, consumers and industry experts have complained that apparel offerings at retail have become “homogenized,” and that this sameness is not enticing shoppers. This criticism raises interesting questions: Has the industry assumed that shopping preferences are uniform across the various cultural groups that make up the U.S. population? Do consumers of different cultural backgrounds approach shopping in the same way? Do they differ in levels of spending and the types of apparel they buy? If so, what are the best ways to target cultural subgroups effectively when marketing apparel?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the minority population grew by approximately 34% from 1990 to 2000, compared with growth rates of 13.2% for the population as a whole and 5.9% for the Euro­pean-American (white) population. Hispanic Americans led the growth, with a gain of 57.9%, as the collective minority population grew more than 5 times as fast as the white population. The growing influence of the minority population is reflected in its increased buying power. While all racial/ethnic groups showed gains in real median income in the past decade, household income growth for African-American (black), Hispanic-American, and Asian-American households (32.5%, 24.3%, and 23.1%, respectively) far surpassed that for white households (14.2%). This growth in minority population and income underscores the importance of taking a closer look at these groups’ apparel shopping preferences and habits.

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For the Love of Shopping…

In Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor™ for the first three quarters of 2001, over 40% of consumers said they either loved or enjoyed shopping for apparel. Although the percentage was down significantly from 47% in 1994, no such decline was seen among Hispanic or Asian-American consumers. The overall decline was due entirely to statistically significant declines among white and black consumers - two groups that represent approximately 85% of the U.S. population. Interestingly, although women buy approximately 80% of all apparel items and are more likely than men to enjoy shopping, men of all racial/ethnic groups have become more enthusiastic about shopping, while women’s love of shopping has decreased.

Though consumer attitudes toward shopping are less positive than in the mid 1990s, expenditures on apparel continue to grow. Overall, consumers are spending 35% more on apparel in 2001 than they did in 1994, and they will spend an average of $969 on apparel for themselves in 2001. Black consumers will spend an average of $1,427 on clothing ($458 more than the average consumer), followed by Hispanic consumers at $1,282, Asian Americans at $1,044, and white consumers at $869 ($100 less than the average consumer).

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Retail Outlet Preferences

Four types of retail outlets dominate the U.S. apparel market: department, chain, specialty, and mass-merchant stores. When asked where they buy most of their apparel, black shoppers most often named department stores, while Asian Americans were split between specialty and department stores. White and Hispanic consumers preferred chain stores, though by relatively small margins. According to data from the Monitor, the notion that Hispanic consumers buy most of their clothing at mass merchants is a myth; white consumers were significantly more likely than any other racial/ethnic group to say they bought most of their clothing at mass merchants.