By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Chart by Han Bui
Nielsen’s 2018 Asian American Consumer Report, Asian Americans: Digital Lives and Growing Influence, released on May 8 revealed that Asian American consumers are growing faster than the general population and maintaining income and education rates higher than any other racial or ethnic group.
As the fastest growing ethnic group, Asian Americans’ consumer buying power has grown exponentially to $986 billion, up 257 percent since 2000, versus 97 percent for all of the United States.
This year’s report highlights Asian American consumers as predictive adopters of new media and technology — including the platforms consumers use to watch their favorite shows, what they buy online, and which apps they choose to enhance their everyday lives.
According to the Nielsen report, Asian Americans are showing incredible growth in mainstream influence as social influencers, food bloggers, and talented U.S. athletes.
Highlights of Asian Americans: Digital Lives and Growing Influence:
- Asian Americans are leaders when it comes to technology consumption, purchasing, and usage. They over index non-Hispanic whites at 66 percent for owning smartwatches, 39 percent for streaming media players, 18 percent for game consoles, and 17 percent for smart TVs.
- Asian Americans 18+ over index the total population on leading smartphone apps, such as Yelp, Venmo, Lyft, Uber, Skype, and WhatsApp.
- Asian Americans are active online shoppers — spending an average amount of $1,151 on internet purchases in the last 12 months, 20 percent higher than online spending by non-Hispanic whites.
- Online spending by Asian Americans grew significantly in skin care (40 percent), kitchen gadgets (37 percent), cosmetics (47 percent), and hair care (18 percent) in 2017, compared to the previous year.
- With a population of 21.8 million, Asian Americans currently represent 7 percent of the total U.S. population. Much of the growth has come from immigration.
- In 2017, California had the largest Asian American consumer spending with $323 billion. The next highest spend state was New York at $88 billion, followed by Texas at $78 billion.