Ethnic Market Research Articles

Networked individualism with superficial integration: a study on Chinese entrepreneurs in Ikebukuro, Tokyo

ABSTRACT Drawing upon semi-structured interviews of Chinese entrepreneurs in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, this paper demonstrates the commonly marginal influence of kinship, townspeople attachment, and ethnic identity on Chinese entrepreneurs’ interpretive framework on their social networks and business activities. Instead, their narratives were dominated by individualistic reasoning based on rational judgments and pragmatic considerations. Meanwhile, Chinese entrepreneurs found ethnic market in Ikebukuro accessible and competitiveness and the policy support from the Japanese state friendly to business operations. However, they were not keen on interacting with local civic organizations and kept themselves aloof from local communities. These features could be concluded as networked individualism with superficial integration.

Ethnic Grocery Retailing and Health: A Case Study of Chinese and South Asian Immigrants in Toronto

This article investigates whether shopping at ethnic grocery retailers and the level of access to these stores relate to healthy eating and associated health outcomes among Chinese and South Asian immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Based on an online survey of 600 immigrants’ grocery behaviors and a location database of ethnic and mainstream grocery stores in Toronto, a series of accessibility measure scores were generated and linked to the survey data. Using a combination of logistic regression and chi-square analysis, this study finds that access to and the frequency of shopping at ethnic grocers are not significant factors explaining fruit, vegetable, and whole grain consumption or obesity levels among Chinese and South Asian immigrants. The research underlines the blurred lines between ethnic and mainstream grocery stores, with major retail chains increasingly catering to the growing ethnic market in Toronto. Although access and frequency of shopping were not significant, a set of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of individuals were found to have significant relationships with healthy eating and obesity level outcomes. Further geographic research is needed to understand the spatial dynamics of ethnic grocery shopping behaviors related to immigrant well-being, including social and mental health, community life, and affirming cultural identity.

Ethnic marketing: the good, the bad and the unknown

Ethnic marketing: the good, the bad and the unknown

Hidden in plain sight: advertisements for Jewish ritual objects in Germany, 1871–1933

ABSTRACT Jewish ritual objects are rather niche products and yet, the advertisements, as well as other factors, indicate an industrial scale production during the German Second Empire (1871–1918) and the Weimar Republic (1918–1933). As I will argue, these advertisements provide us with intriguing insights into the Jewish community, and how German Jewry was perceived by the non-Jewish population. Especially when companies used methods of ethnic marketing, I surveyed how they addressed the different strata of the Jewish community. In addition, some company advertisements bear traces of an understanding of Judaism on equal footing with Christian denominations. Yet, I also find hints of industrial overproduction which, as I argue, might have been stimulated by stereotypes of Jews. Perhaps in response to the overproduction, some retailers advertised Jewish ritual objects as “decorative” rather than religious items, and therefore veiled their link to Judaism. While this might have been a protective measure against anti-Semitic slurs, it ties in well with the observation that producers and retailers might have expected higher sales. Overall, analysing advertisements for Jewish ritual objects helps us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the positioning of Jewish consumers within the market in Germany before the Shoah.

Ethnicity in advertising and millennials: the role of social identity and social distinctiveness

Underpinned by the social identity theory and distinctiveness theory, the research examines the effects of mono- and multi-ethnicity advertising on brand evaluations among millennials. We conducted two experimental studies with Asian and Caucasian millennial consumers in Australia to test our hypotheses. The objective of Study 1 was to test the effectiveness of ethnic marketing among millennials using six different advertisement copies for a lipstick brand. In Study 2, we aimed to substantiate our predictions using another type of product (i.e. soap) and ascertain the impact of the product context on ethnicity marketing. Overall, the results of this study support that millennial consumers prefer multi-ethnic advertising to mono-ethnic advertising. The effect of body image is not significant in multi-ethnic advertisements. Social identity can influence the attitudes of socially distinctive consumers toward mono-ethnic advertisements. Finally, multi-ethnic advertising is an effective strategy for both publicly and privately consumed products, while mono-ethnic advertising is more applicable for privately consumed products.

Increasing the Revenue Through Digital Marketing: A lesson learned from a Small Business Enterprise Run by Volunteers of Community with Disability

Digital marketing has become increasingly important and needed in the New Normal, especially for small industries such as Amor Ethnic. Amor Ethnic is a self-help group/community with disabilities with businesses in the form of hands and feet crafts using macrame materials. This micro-enterprise was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, so there were no sales for four months. Therefore, expansion of market reach must be done immediately. Amor Ethnic has used Instagram for marketing, but it did not use Instagram marketing optimally. The purpose of this community service was to improve the knowledge and skills of the Amor Ethnic community in using Instagram for marketing and to increase their business turnover. Marketing 3.0, selecting a caption that reflects FAITH (Feel Assurance in The Heart), was chosen as the uniqueness of Amor Ethnic's marketing approach. Training and mentoring methods were conducted through the WhatsApp and Google Meet applications. The topics were product photography, photo editing, ads and feed design, preparation of Instagram feeds, use of Instagram Ads, analysis of Instagram Ads insight data, and preparation of content strategies to maximise the use of Instagram. Evaluation was using pretest and posttest. The results showed there were improved skills in implementing digital marketing using Instagram. The improvement was seen in improved quality of product photos, Instagram design, followers, profile visits, reach of Instagram accounts, and increased customer orders and turnover.

Ethnic Marketing in Bibliographic Analysis in 2013 - 2022: Current Trend and Issue

Ethnic Marketing in Bibliographic Analysis in 2013 - 2022: Current Trend and Issue

Social media discussion forums, home country and immigrant consumer acculturation: the case of Iranian immigrants in Australia

PurposeSocial media has transformed communication possibilities for immigrant consumers with their home country in their acculturation efforts. However, the acculturative outcomes of consumer interactions with the home country through social media are largely overlooked in previous research. This study aims to investigate the acculturative processes and outcomes resulting from interacting with the home country through social media.Design/methodology/approachA netnographic approach is used to collect data from a social media platform that provides an interactive social context in which Iranian immigrants in Australia share their experiences of immigration with non-immigrants who are considering and planning to migrate to Australia.FindingsFindings show how both immigrants and non-immigrant users via social media reflexively contribute to the formation of two competing collective narratives, namely, the dominant, romanticizing narrative and counter, pragmatic narratives. Findings highlight how notions of the home and host countries, and the idea of migrating from home to host, are constructed as the result of the circulation of the dominant and counter narratives. Further findings include how these two collective narratives come into play in the formation of three acculturative outcomes, namely, self-validating, ordinary experts and wellbeing. These insights extend consumer acculturation theory through highlighting the acculturative processes and outcomes of interactions with the home country via a social media platform. This includes, for example, how interacting with the home culture can take on assimilationist properties through the construction of a romanticized representation of the hosting society (i.e. Australia) in the dominant collective narrative.Practical implicationsImplications for ethnic marketing practice, policymakers and non-governmental organisations are advanced, especially regarding using social media as a channel to communicate with current and potential immigrant consumers. Notably, policymakers can use social media to engage with immigrants before and after migration to reduce the potential for cognitive dissonance in recent arrivals. Managerially, brands can advertise on Web-based forums, independent websites and social media platforms to target potential immigrants to sell relevant products immigrants needs after migrating to the host country.Social implicationsFindings broaden the understanding of the potential acculturative outcomes on social media by moving away from the traditional outcomes, which are restricted to the dichotomy between the home and host cultures.Originality/valueScholarly attention is deficient on the role of direct interaction with the home country in immigrant consumer acculturation, especially through social media, which is the focus of this study.

From ethnic market niche to a post-ethnic marketplace: A national profile of Latino-owned business market orientation

From ethnic market niche to a post-ethnic marketplace: A national profile of Latino-owned business market orientation

Ethnic brand identity work: Responding to authenticity tensions through celebrity endorsement in brand digital self-presentation

Based on an exploratory thematic analysis of the interviews with representatives of brands with intense ethnic digital self-presentation and on confirmatory analysis of the content of the brands’ digital media, this qualitative study introduces a notion of brand identity work. Four contributions are made: theorising brand identity work as a process of identity construction that involves brand building and brand presentation; unpacking a typology of tensions between brand building and brand presentation specific to ethnic marketing; suggesting a dynamic view of authenticity and uncovering a typology of presentation strategies that address these conflicts. We find that behind the tensions between brand-building and brand presentation stands brands’ concern about authenticity. Depending on the type of authenticity tensions, brands develop self-presentation strategies, notably, celebrity endorsement. Social media content analysis shows that brands use self-presentation strategies separately or in combination.

Standing the Test of Time: Neo–Traditionalism as Neoliberalism in Garifuna World Music

The encroachment of enclave tourism upon centuries-old villages of Afro-indigenous Garifuna along Honduras’s North Coast presents but one example of neoliberalism’s global ascendency during the 1990s. One way that the privatization of the commons materialized was in the commodification of “minority” cultural practices within nation-states -- what Charles Hale (2005) calls “neoliberal multiculturalism.” Mark Anderson (2013) observes that this “marketing of ethnicity produces the promise of inclusion at the potential price of cultural and territorial rights” (ibid.: 277-78). Garifuna cultural practices are pivotal to the promotion of Honduras as a tourist destination; however, visitors encounter visual art, costumes, music, and dance as forms of entertainment while remaining segregated from surrounding Garifuna communities. As a result, their market value is as “symbolic capital” which traffics in stereotypes and apolitical narratives (ibid.: 291).I argue that Garifuna music functions similarly as symbolic capital within the world music industry. I examine the success of Garifuna musical neo-traditionalism within this industry during the mid-aughts as contingent upon neoliberal marketing strategies akin to those implemented by the resorts built within Garifuna Central American coastal villages. Dale Chapman (2018) and Jay Hammond (2020) have noted a similar function for neo-traditionalism in present-day jazz scenes, whereby musicians mine past aesthetics and values for new forms of individual branding and new options for consumers. Moreover, the premium placed upon “timelessness” in these cases presents neo-traditional musical practices as a foil to musical styles too “untempered” and “common” (reminiscent of “the commons”) in comparison. Central to the story of Garifuna world music is its development as a preferred alternative to punta rock, which arose circa 1979 as a dance genre driven by youths soon realizing local punta and paranda rhythms on keyboards and drum machines. In contrast, the production of recordings by the Garifuna Collective and Aurelio Martinez from the early millennium until today—dominated by acoustic instruments and featuring time-tested, respected musicians steeped in traditional storytelling—takes a page from the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon of the late 1990s to generate global esteem for Garifuna music and culture.

Food Pantry Use and Its Association with Food Environment and Food Acquisition Behavior among Urban Adults

ABSTRACT Population-based survey data of 2,022 adults in Schenectady, NY were analyzed to identify determinants of food pantry use. A logistic regression model that controlled for socioeconomic variables demonstrated that food insecurity, government nutrition assistant program participation, use of a soup kitchen, living in a low supermarket access neighborhood, shopping at a corner store and a dollar store were positively associated with food pantry use, while shopping at an ethnic market was inversely associated with food pantry use. This study suggests neighborhood food environment and secondary (non-supermarket) shopping venues are independent determinants of food pantry use among urban, racially diverse adults.

Ethnic disparities in labor market outcomes among migrant populations in China: a study of thirteen minority groups and the Han

Using pooled data from the 2013–2017 National Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey, this study examines whether and how migrants from 13 large ethnic minority groups are disadvantaged in the labor market relative to Han migrants. Results show that except for the sizable ethnic penalty paid by Uyghurs, minority-majority differences in monthly income are either small or not statistically significant. In the attainment of professional and managerial jobs, Hui and Uyghur migrants are disadvantaged relative to the Han, while others show an advantage over or no difference from the Han migrants. Further analysis shows that popular inter-provincial destinations tend to be more beneficial for minority migrants than intra-provincial destinations in terms of monthly income, but more disadvantaged in terms of occupational attainment. Moreover, in most cases, the moderating effect of education on the relationship between ethnicity and labor market outcomes is either negative or insignificant.

Orientação de Mercado para Pequenas e Médias Empresas de Imigrantes Brasileiros no Exterior

Objetivo: contribuir para o campo de estudo do empreendedorismo, no contexto das empresas étnicas ou de imigrantes, ao analisar variáveis que definem sua orientação de mercado e as decisões estratégicas tomadas, aprofundando o conhecimento sobre o assunto.Método: foi utilizada a coleta de dados com estratégias multimétodos (quantitativa e qualitativa), sendo sua principal estratégia a entrevista em profundidade, que compõe a análise de múltiplos casos de empreendedores no exterior, oriundos de diferentes comunidades brasileiras. Essas informações foram trianguladas, a partir de dados de surveys realizadas com brasileiros na Austrália, no Canadá, em Portugal e na Estônia, da netnografia e da análise documental. Sendo assim, análises intra e intercasos foram feitas, visando encontrar similaridades e diferenças nos resultados alcançados.Originalidade/Relevância: o artigo enfoca uma importante questão, que envolve as grandes economias mundiais – os imigrantes. Dadas as dificuldades em sua inserção nas sociedades acolhedoras, eles tendem a ser identificados como “problemas sociais”. Por outro lado, a aplicação de modelos de negócios e de propostas de orientação mercadológica para empreendedores imigrantes, viabiliza um caminho para a sua ascensão econômica e social. Ao se tornarem empreendedores bem-sucedidos, eles podem reverter essa percepção discriminatória a seu respeito.Resultados: com base nos dados coletados, bem como na análise de artigos da literatura existente, foram identificadas quatro orientações diferentes de mercado: (1) foco no nicho de mercado étnico, (2) foco em interesses específicos, (3) foco em produtos exóticos para o cliente local, e (4) foco em mercados altamente competitivos. Uma matriz 2 x 2 é apresentada, incluindo as variáveis: (a) grau de afiliação de empreendedores com suas comunidades étnicas e seu público-alvo, e (b) segmentos de mercado enfocados.Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: uma das principais contribuições teóricas deste artigo é apoiar a discussão sobre a orientação para o mercado de imigrantes, os empreendimentos étnicos e as decisões do público-alvo a ser atendido. Além disso, o artigo inova, ao discutir decisões estratégicas, no contexto de pequenos e médios negócios de brasileiros no exterior.

The Visibility of an Invisible Community’s Labour Exploitation in an Ethnic Economy: A Comparative Study on Kurdish Movers in the United Kingdom

Kurdish movers from Turkey are usually considered as Turkish by researchers. Therefore, very little is known about the experiences of Kurdish movers in the labour market in the United Kingdom. Drawing on field research I conducted in 2014 and 2015 about the ethnic economy and labour market conditions of Kurdish, Turkish, and Turkish-Cypriot movers in London, this study contributes to the literature on migration through analyses of the labour exploitation of Kurds who moved to the UK from Turkey. It demonstrates that the reasons underlying the difference between Kurds and Turks and Turkish-Cypriots in terms of status and working conditions are complex. First of all, Kurdish movers in the UK are relative newcomers, have a limited grasp of English and share a strong sense of solidarity, and also a significant percentage of those Kurds left Turkey in order to escape discrimination and political violence, which makes the possibility of return “impossible”.

Ethnic Enclaves, Self-employment, and the Economic Performance of Refugees: Evidence from a Swedish Dispersal Policy

This article estimates the causal effect of residential concentration of co-ethnics (ethnic enclaves) on the probability to start a business among refugees in Sweden. Results indicate that the share of self-employed co-ethnics in the port of entry municipality increases refugees’ probability of entry into self-employment, while the actual share of local co-ethnics has no effect or, in some cases, a negative effect. The results support the conclusion that skills and resources within the local ethnic enclave, particularly skills relevant for self-employment, are crucial for generating new entry into self-employment for refugees, while simply more co-ethnics, plausibly increasing an ethnic market’s size, are of less importance. Moreover, the results suggest that being placed with a larger share of self-employed co-ethnics is negatively related to refugees’ long-term disposable income; however, assuming there is no or little selection of high-ability refugees into self-employment, this negative relationship can be counteracted by the choice of self-employment. The study adds new knowledge on the arguably crucial topic of socio-economic integration of an important group of international migrants — namely, refugees.

Ethnic Consumer Markets and Movie Marketing: An Empirical Study on Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ and Predictive Analytics of Ethnic Consumer Behavior of Moviegoers

The purpose of this study was to examine the movie, Marvel’s Black Panther and the predictive analytics of ethnic consumer behavior of moviegoers We examined box office receipts and trends on movies and box office successful films. The problem identified as a basis for this study is to examining marketing strategy and tactics of movie marketing in terms of traditional and non-traditional media strategy to moviegoers. This study is a continuation of the researchers' prior research on movie marketing and strategy and regression model predicting box office revenue. The overall objective of this research is threefold. First objective we examine what are the key ad variables that influence movie goers to see the movie. Second, the objective examined, how many key ad factors are a major influence on movie goers to see the movie. Last, the objective examined was how many key ad variables were an influence both online and offline ticket sales to see the movie. The study sample was taken across the country. We used a three-step process in the research design. This study had a protocol of studies. First, researchers conducted a pilot study with a (N = 147) moviegoers. Second, the formal was conducted on a larger size sample (N = 372) of moviegoers. The researchers used three statistical test designs: (a) descriptive statistics; (b) principle component analysis (PCA); and a (c) structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealed two key findings. First, there were three factors that influence movie goers of the Black Panther movie: (1) Combination PR Activities; (2) Traditional Movie Marketing Ads and (3) Current and Future Movie Preferences. Second, we found that using the movie ad variables as endogenous variables, they were strong influences on moviegoer frequency. The use of social media to get information about movies was prevalent in the data.

Ethnic Marketing: A Strategy for Marketing Programs to Diverse Audience

This paper is the seventh in a series of articles on planning programs to effectively outreach to diverse audiences. This series will include specialized papers on enhancing cultural competence, recruiting diverse volunteers, planning culturally appropriate marketing strategies, and other topics that are integral to the design and implementation of culturally relevant Extension education programs. This document is FCS9223, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date September 2005.

Ethnic marketing to the global millennial consumers: Challenges and opportunities

This paper reports on an exploratory interpretivist study of global millennial consumers' subjective interpretations of ethnic targeted marketing communications in a multicultural marketplace. Although millennials are the most ethnically diverse generational cohort that has ever existed, little is known about their interpretation of ethnicity depiction in advertising and how they draw from advertising imagery to infer their ethnic identity, social acceptance and inclusion in a culturally diverse society. Within the broader context of the global consumer culture, this paper draws on theories of social identity, persuasion and multiculturalism to investigate whether ethnic marketing is still applicable to reach the diverse millennial consumers. In-depth interviews with the photo elicitation technique were conducted with an ethnically heterogeneous sample of twenty-three millennial individuals in the UK. The findings show that ethnic millennials' multicultural identities cannot be primed through mono-ethnic targeted messages, whereas multi-ethnic embedded marketing communications provide a more effective access for the ethnically diverse millennial consumers in the modern society and can potentially be a viable solution towards enhanced wellbeing and lower prejudice. This study contributes to insights into millennial consumers' experience in the multicultural marketplace, the sociocultural meanings of ethnic advertising and the opportunities and challenges of reaching to this diverse audience.

Understanding the global consumer culture: Views from eastern and western scholars, an introduction to the special issue

This special issue of the Journal of Business Research features thirteen articles selected from the papers presented during the exceptional eleventh meeting of the Royal Bank International Research Conference which took place in Wuxi, China on June 24–26, 2016. These articles cover topics related to global marketing communications, global ethnic marketing, global branding, global identity, and global entrepreneurship and innovation.