Page 15 - The Case For Change

14 THE CASE FOR CHANGE

A. THE RISE IN LGBTQ CONSUMER AFFLUENCE

The story of the combined buying power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer
population of the U.S. has been told by many a major media outlet.

In 2017, the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce announced that the LGBTQ consumer
buying power had reached a new high of $917 billion. The NGLCC’s groundbreaking 2016
report America’s LGBTQ Economy stated that if the “total contributed value of the estimated
1.4 million American LGBTQ business owners is considered, our input to the economy is over
$1.7 trillion. That would make LGBTQ Americans the 10th largest economy in the world.”
The power of their wallet reaches far beyond this segment alone: the NGLCC shared the fact
that more than 75 percent of LGBTQ adults, and their friends and families, stated they would
switch to a brand they knew was LGBTQ-friendly.

According to Nielsen insights published in July 2015, not only do American LGBTQ households
make 10 percent more shopping trips in a year than the average U.S. household, they buy
more goods. LGBTQ households spent an average of $4,135 at retail stores in 2014. That’s 7
percent higher than non-LGBTQ consumers (Nielsen, U.S. LGBTQ Shoppers Make More Trips,
Spend More Than Average, 2015).

To say that this makes the LGBTQ community attractive for marketing across various media is
obvious. But have marketers responded? Only a select few have.