Gays: a valuable proposition for business
According to scientists and experts, one out of ten individuals in the world is a homosexual. The statistics mean that worldwide, approximately 700.000.000 men and women are gay! This really invites for a second thought the next time someone calls the gay community ‘a minority’, doesn’t it? After all, SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION people are more than twice the whole population of the United States of America or almost four times the population of Brazil. Anyways.
Some people say that homosexuality is a new age’s phenomenon. Wrong! Modern-life did not make people suddenly become gay. Instead, it allowed them to finally identify themselves as such. This is the result of developments in society that led to new levels of social maturity – and these levels go as far as from black to white when comparing nations, though. The decriminalization of homosexual acts, gay civil rights and same-sex marriage are indeed things we can be proud to witness in our modern world. Oppositely, homosexual affection, gay households and same-sex couples are among us since always.
Political, social and religious views aside, this post is about gays – and the commercial opportunities within.
Initially, gays and lesbians were neither strategic objects nor targets for business. Suddenly, ‘tiny little rainbow flags’ started appearing hidden in marketing products in a way that the gay community could somehow decode the ‘gay-friendly message’ without ‘shocking’ the straight clientele. Lately, companies seem to have found out a gold mine within the gay community: “DINKS” (double income, no kids) – the way homosexual couples are nicknamed, is the reason for marketing managers to rejoice about them.
A recent research by marketagent.com and Pink Marketing conducted in Austria (which according to experts has a gay community of 800.000 people) conveys a series of interesting results:
The average monthly disposable income of a gay man is 822 euros, while the same for a straight male is 558 euros per month. Moreover, 57.3% of hetero couples have disposable income under 600 euros per month, while disposable income of 57.1% of same-sex couples is above 600 euros per month. In fact, almost one third of gay couples have disposable income above 1500 euros per month, and this is true for less than one fourth of hetero couples, the research shows.
The extra money plays an important role in their life-style. For instance, the research results show that homosexuals spend 43% more when going out, 82% more on vacations, 73% more on clothes and also 180% more with culture than heterosexuals.
Furthermore, consumption habits are affected as well. The research shows, for instance, that gay men prefer sparkling wine and champagne, while straight men favour beer as their favourite alcoholic drink. Jaguar, Smart and Mini are the favourite cars among gay men, whereas Porsche, Toyota and Audi are the favourite of straight ones. Results also show that gay men purchase more expensive cars and go more often on vacation than straight men.
Looking at the results of this research conducted in Austria, it is no wonder why the hidden ‘tiny little rainbow flags’ turned into well elaborated marketing efforts whose object and target is the gay community. The reason for that is simple: NOW people realize that there is some value in the gay world that is worth fighting for. Exceptions aside, this value is called ‘money’. And so it goes: where there is money, there is certainly many smiling faces looking forward to doing business out of it.
Opinions aside, this post’s main target is actually to bring the reader’s attention to the very interesting research mentioned above. Full details on the results can be found under this link.