African-American Women Spend More on Beauty

“African-American women spend $7.5 billion annually on beauty products, which is 80 percent more than the general market. The reason it’s such a dramatic difference is attributed to the fact that African-American women have to sample more products to find the right ones for their skin.” 

From Women’s Wear Daily – “Essence Panel Explores Beauty Purchasing“
African-American women are vibrant shoppers of prestige beauty brands, but their biggest challenge is finding products that are effective and effectively marketed toward them. Such points were revealed last week at Essence’s Smart Beauty panel, which discussed the African-American woman’s shopping experience in the prestige beauty market.

Essence beauty and cover director Mikki Taylor led a discussion on the findings with celebrity makeup artist Sam Fine, dermatologist Rosemarie Ingleton and Candace Corlett, president of WSL Strategic Retail, at a breakfast at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan. Essence has rolled out four installments of its Smart Beauty research. Smart Beauty’s first session in 2004 discussed the spending power of African-American women, while the following year, Smart Beauty II: “Counter Intelligence” addressed the retail experience. In 2006, Smart Beauty III: “Speak to Me” focused on language and messaging in marketing to the African-American consumer.

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