Marketing analysis predicts 2010 gay buying power in U.S. at $743 billion

Market research firms Witeck-Combs and Packaged Facts have predicted that the 2010 buying power of gays and lesbians in the United States will be a whopping $743 billion, up $1 billion from last year despite continued widespread economic hardships.

According to a press release from last month, "same-sex couples remain less likely than their married heterosexual counterparts to have kids, and they are more likely to have both partners in the workforce, factors which yield slightly higher per capita household income, especially in the case of gay male couples.”

Kansas Citians should remember earlier reports that marketing to the LGBTQ community greatly benefits businesses willing to support equality, and with these recent predictions of buying power within the community, it's not difficult to see why.

Openly Gay Marketing (OGM) also reports that "gay and lesbian consumers are more optimistic than many Americans about the overall direction of the country, its future economic growth, the job market, and their own personal financial condition," making them more likely to spend.

It's great news for LGBTQ and gay-friendly businesses, especially during these more difficult economic times. And OGM makes a great point: "For American marketers, the writing is on the wall: not only can the gay consumer segment be highly lucrative, it is a population businesses can no longer afford to ignore."