Blacks Outpace Whites In Spending On Computer-Based Products

Jet, Dec 20, 1999

Black Americans spend more on computer-based products than Whites, according to a new report.

The annual report, "The Buying Power of Black America," pointed out that the total earned income for Black Americans grew to $441 billion in 1998, a 12% increase over the previous year.

This increased income gave Black consumers the confidence to spend more aggressively.

The most dramatic increase in Black spending was with computer-based products, with expenditures last year totaling $1.3 billion. That's an average increase of 143% over the amount spent in 1997. During this same period, White households increased their spending on computer-related items by an average of only 10%.

"There is no so-called digital divide when we talk about the rate at which African-Americans are purchasing computers and logging onto the Internet," said Ken Smikle, editor of the report and president of the Chicago-based research firm, Target Market News, which published the study.

The report found that the amount spent by Blacks for Internet services grew 140%, while Whites boosted their spending by 57%.

The amount spent by Blacks for computer hardware grew 196%, but only increased 6% for White households, the report noted. And more Blacks than Whites use e-mail at home for educational purposes (32.4% Blacks-27.8% Whites).