The Multicultural Mainstream: Why Inclusive Consumer Behavior Demands a Rethink.

Walk through any supermarket aisle in 2025 and you’ll see it. Hot sauces from across Latin America, beauty products catering to melanin-rich skin, cleaning brands scented with culturally familiar fragrances. What once felt like “ethnic” shelves now dominate the center.

More than a shift happening on the margins, this is the new face of the U.S. consumer. And it’s not just visual, it’s behavioral, financial, and cultural.

More than 40% of the U.S. population now identifies as multicultural, a number that grows every year. These consumers are shaping how categories evolve, which products win, and where innovation begins. For brands, this is a defining opportunity. Multicultural consumer behavior is no longer a niche trend. It’s the foundation of mainstream strategy.

Multicultural Growth Is Reshaping the Core of the Market.

The United States is entering a new demographic era. By 2050, non-Hispanic white Americans will no longer be the majority, and multiracial, Latino, Black, and Asian populations will account for over half of the U.S. population, according to a 2023 report by the Associated Press. This transformation is not a distant projection. It is already playing out in classrooms, workplaces, and shopping aisles.

Younger Americans are leading this change. In fact, nearly half of all U.S. children under 18 are part of a racial or ethnic minority group, making multiculturalism the default experience for the next generation of consumers.

These shifting demographics aren’t just changing the population's makeup. They’re changing what people buy, how they engage with brands, and what they expect from the market. Companies that continue to center their strategies on a general market framework risk building for an audience that is rapidly shrinking.

Multicultural Consumers Are Not Buying the Same Way.

Inclusive behavior is about who is buying, but also about how, where, and why.

1. Culture Drives Innovation

Brands that have embraced cultural specificity are outpacing those that generalize their approach. Fenty Beauty’s launch with 40 foundation shades didn’t just expand representation; it redefined industry standards. PepsiCo’s focus on regional flavors, like Salsa Verde Tostitos, tapped into authentic culinary traditions that now resonate well beyond the Latino community. These aren’t isolated success stories. They serve as reminders that culture-based innovation reaches a broader audience and fosters deeper loyalty.

2. Digital Habits Are Different

Multicultural consumers don’t just spend more time online; they consume content in more personalized and culturally driven ways. Hispanic audiences, for example, are more engaged on social media, while Black and Asian Americans lead in listening to podcasts or radio shows. These preferences shape how products are discovered, recommended, and evaluated. For brands, aligning with these habits means adapting media strategies, testing environments, and messaging to fit the platforms and preferences that actually drive behavior.

3. Cross-Cultural Consumption Is Mainstream Behavior

Products inspired by multicultural traditions are no longer limited to specific audiences. Non-Latino shoppers are cooking with adobo and tajín. Consumers from all backgrounds are trying Korean beauty routines or Southeast Asian snacks. Culture spreads quickly when it’s well-executed, and inclusive products now serve broad audiences.

Where the Shift Is Most Visible.

These changes are surfacing across every sector. But a few categories are particularly telling.

1. Grocery and CPG

Food has always been a powerful expression of identity. In multicultural households, it’s also a site of routine, tradition, and exploration. Spices, fresh ingredients, and heritage dishes play a daily role in shopping decisions. In our article on Latino consumers, we noted that more than 70% use grocery apps to plan purchases, yet many still prefer to shop in-store, often with family. This hybrid behavior presents opportunities for brands to optimize both digital engagement and physical shelf strategy.

2. Beauty and Personal Care

Multicultural shoppers are driving meaningful shifts in the beauty space, not just in what sells, but in how innovation happens. NielsenIQ reports that Black and Latino consumers spend more and are more likely to spend in specific categories, such as lip cosmetics and hair care. These audiences expect more than diverse advertising; they want formulations that reflect their skin tones, textures, and cultural rituals. This demand is changing the way brands approach product development, forcing a move from inclusive messaging to inclusive design and formulation. What used to be considered “niche” preferences are now setting the standard for relevance, credibility, and long-term loyalty in the category.

3. Home and Cleaning Products

Cleaning products often seem like a low-emotion category, but in many multicultural households, they carry strong cultural and family significance. Many multicultural households prioritize products with deep scents and multi-surface solutions. These choices may seem insignificant, but they have a significant impact on brand loyalty and repeat purchases.

Visual appeal, bilingual labeling, and accurate messaging all play a role in driving purchase intent. Brands that understand this context are better positioned to create products that connect on a deeper level and maintain household relevance over time.

How to Rethink Research Around Inclusive Consumers

Shifting your brand toward cultural relevance begins with a more effective research design. Many companies still treat multicultural studies as add-ons rather than integrated frameworks. That creates gaps in strategy and missed moments in execution.

Here’s what should change:

1. Representation in Your Sample

Traditional research panels are often skewed toward older, English-speaking, general-market respondents. To gain meaningful insights, brands must invest in panels that accurately reflect today’s real population. That means including bilingual participants, recruiting across socioeconomic levels, and oversampling among younger, urban, and multicultural users.

2. Behavior-Based Segmentation

Labels like “Hispanic” or “Asian” are too broad to drive strategy. Segmentation should capture identity, values, media consumption, shopping behaviors, and cultural attitudes, not just ethnicity. Are you segmenting by motivations? Cultural drivers? Decision influence within households? If not, your profiles may be missing what matters.

3. Culturally Adapted Methodologies

Translation alone doesn’t ensure accuracy. Surveys should be culturally adapted, not just linguistically translated. Focus groups require moderators who understand the communities they serve. Ethnographic work must reflect the diversity of daily life.

Even digital tools like eye-tracking and mobile diaries should be accessible in both English and Spanish, for example.

The Risk of Staying General

Multicultural consumers can quickly spot brands that default to generalization. Messaging that feels impersonal, visuals that rely on outdated tropes, or campaigns limited to a heritage month create more harm than impact.

These audiences are highly engaged, but they reward brands that do the work. Authenticity and trust come from consistent, intentional representation, not last-minute adaptations. When brands treat inclusive strategy as optional, they leave growth on the table. Worse, they risk alienating the very consumers who are driving tomorrow’s demand.

We help brands understand multicultural consumers with the nuance, depth, and strategic clarity required to grow. Our bilingual research teams, custom panels, and advanced segmentation frameworks provide more than surface-level stats. We help translate cultural insight into product development, marketing strategy, and business impact. Inclusive behavior is not a footnote. It is the framework that determines relevance in 2025 and beyond.

Let’s talk about how culturally grounded research can unlock your next opportunity.

Sources:

The Census Bureau sees an older, more diverse America in 2100 in three immigration scenarios – AP News, 2023

Multicultural Consumer Media Consumption – Collage Group, 2021

Black, Hispanic Shoppers Driving Beauty Sales, According to NielsenIQ – WWD, 2021