Asian buying power hits $7.4 billion
Atlanta Business Chronicle - September 1, 2006
by Erin Moriarty
Metro Atlanta’s Asian population and its buying power are increasing rapidly, creating fertile new ground for companies eager to reach one of the nation’s wealthiest demographic groups.
Asian buying power in Georgia will reach $7.4 billion in 2006, according to a new report on the multicultural economy from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
The report comes on the heels of a census report showing that Atlanta has the second-fastest-growing Asian population of any U.S. city, increasing from 135,959 in 2000 to 194,332 in 2005.
“One of the most striking findings for Georgia is the rate of growth of the Asian consumer market,” said economist Jeffrey Humphreys, director of the Selig Center and author of the annual buying power report. “Nationally, Georgia has the third-fastest-growing Asian consumer market.”
The increasing economic clout of the local Asian population represents a unique opportunity for companies.
“This is the kind of fast-paced growth you normally have to look overseas to find, where you’d have to worry about currency fluctuations, changing political regimes and different legal systems,” Humphreys said. “But here is this relatively risk-free opportunity right in our own back yard.”
The data also means that Georgia is an increasingly attractive market because Asians typically have higher household incomes than any other ethnic or racial group, including Caucasians.
The median household income for Asians — $55,000 — is almost $10,000 ahead of white households and it’s far ahead of African-American and Hispanic households, says Saul Gitlin, executive vice president of strategic services at Kang & Lee Advertising, a New York agency specializing in the Asian-American market.
“Purely looking at population sizes in the census doesn’t tell the whole story,” Gitlin said. “Asians are a smaller group compared to African-Americans and Hispanics … but they have disproportionately large economic clout and buying power, and if you’re a marketer that may be more important to you.”
Gitlin said some of his firm’s clients have bypassed the African-American and Hispanic consumers and made their foray into multicultural marketing with Asians. He cited retail banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms as having made that leap successfully.