Grocery Shopping - An Ethnic Marketing Case

Grocery shopping is not only a popular family activity for ethnic families on weekends, but also a necessity. A typical South Asian home has over 4 people and a typical Chinese home has an average of 3.5 people, as compared to an average Canadian home of 2.6 people.

During early stages of settlement in Canada, many of these ethnic families have lower-than-average income and larger-than-average family. Hence, they are attracted to the discount grocers. This means a huge opportunity for discount grocers to tap into the New Canadians segment.

Among ethnic communities, the South Asians spend 23% more than the average Canadian shopper due to larger family size. They often look for products and taste from “back home” with discount prices.

According to an independent study, 57% of South Asians usually buy groceries at No Frills; 36% at Food Basics; Wal-Mart is a close third at 33%; followed by FreshCo. and independent ethnic grocery stores at 24%. This finding shows that this segment goes to more thanone store for grocery shopping on a regular basis.

Chinese Canadians spend $136 on groceries weekly, 9% more than the average Canadian shopper. They prefer to go to one-stop shops with a variety of products at discount prices. Oceans is a great example here.

Oceans opened its 51,000 square feet flagship store in Mississauga in 2010. With 100% Chinese speaking staff, this store caters to ethnically diverse customers. It also features a licensed restaurant and live cooking shows and plans to offer in-store product education as well as cooking classes by Oceans’ international chefs. Oceans’ future expansion plans include opening 10 more stores across the GTA, taking the total number to 14.

Ethnic Population in Canada - An Overview

In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy. By so doing, Canada affirmed the value and dignity of all Canadian citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation.

Since then, Canada has witnessed a substantial growth of immigrant population. Statistics Canada’s projections suggest continued increase in immigration trends. By 2031, the visible minorities population is expected to be around 14.4 million.

At present, almost half of visible minorities population in Canada are comprised of immigrants of South Asian and Chinese descent.



 
Ethnic populations by 2031 – Projected growth

Statistics Canada projects that one in three people in Canada will be a visible minority by 2031. South Asians will make up the largest visible minority group at 28% and they will more than double to 4.1 million from 1.3 million in 2006.














71% of visible minorities will live in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. In Toronto, while 63% of the population will be visible minorities, 1 in 4 people will be a South Asian. Visible minority groups would represent 59% of the total population in Vancouver and 31% in Montreal by 2031.

Ethnic Media in Canada: ROI for your advertising dollars

Ethnic communities have different media consumption habits than the mainstream population. Various studies have shown that nearly 75% of South Asians and Chinese consume an in-language ethnic media in Canada on daily basis.

According to an Ipsos Reid study, Fairchild Television is the number one medium reaching Chinese Canadians in Toronto, followed by Sing Tao daily newspaper. Another popular Chinese daily newspaper is Ming Pao. Fairchild Radio offers Cantonese and Mandarin programming. Popular TV station, Talentvision, is a division of Fairchild TV and primarily serves the Mandarin-speaking population in Canada.

At the same time, we have seen a proliferation of South Asian media in Canada. At present, there are many South Asian weekly publications in GTA, Vancouver and Montreal. Apart from English, the in-language South    Asian    media    includes Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, and Gujarati.

There are also more than 5 national South Asian TV stations in Canada with both international and locally produced programs. In recent months, some more TV stations have entered the market. Many South Asian radio stations cater to local communities, mostly in GTA and Vancouver. CMR 101.3FM and CINA 1650AM are leading radio stations in GTA, while Red FM and RJ1200 top the charts in Vancouver.

Other ethnic media in Canada include Hispanic, Italian, Filipino, and Arabic among others.

Ethnic media in Canada includes in-language TV, radio, community newspapers and native country based websites.