Ethnic Marketing

7Understanding Ethnic Entrepreneurship

Suppliers of goods and services to ethnic minorities may not come from the same minority ethnic group that binds the consumers they serve. For example, there is clear evidence that many ethnic minority consumers use a variety of mainstream suppliers to satisfy some of their needs and wants, particularly when the goods procured are service-products with search attributes. These are amenable to consumer’s choice, perusal/trial and consumption without a need for extensive interaction with the supplier (Zeithaml, 1981). Hence, while ethnic minority consumers may select ethnic minority businesses as suppliers when demanding ethnic-specific service-products not available in mainstream outlets, the same consumers ...