Blackout Day Takes Retail by Storm
It was Blackout Day yesterday with consumers encouraged to #BuyBlack from black-owned brands. We saw stock market activism, folks buying black to make green!
The current awareness for Black Lives Matter gives this particular Blackout Day a special backdrop. It could now become an annual or otherwise more frequent event, giving investors in retail a lot to think about.
There’s a big boost expected for black-owned brands, and we’ll put some numbers around it soon with earnings season. The stock prices of companies serving black communities rose on the Juneteenth Holiday; some even halted for volatility like Urban One.
Those same black-owned brands have ordered in extra inventory and staff to handle this week’s uptick. Non-black brands like Sephora have still paused to run leadership training.
In terms of black money, things are much better than they used to be, but there’s still important work to do. The average black consumer’s purchasing power has more than doubled since the turn of the millennium, but black households, which represent 14% of homes in the United States, still don’t account for more than 10% of total spending.
According to Nielson, $1.39 trillion in black spending is expected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2024. This is a 30% rise, almost enough to close that racial gap, so we’re moving in the right direction. The next step is to put that money to work. Where the black investors at?
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
