Dissecting Audiences on Amazon Merch on Demand: Trends and Top Sellers In The African American Segment

dissecting audiences on amazon

There are 41.6 million African Americans living throughout the United States. This represents a large chunk of the total population at 12.4%. It is therefore a significant market that Amazon Merch on Demand sellers should not underestimate.

To find out what sort of merch is mostly being sold to this group, and what the top sellers are doing right to reach this audience, take a look at our key findings below.

How can you uncover the ethnicity of a buyer audience on Amazon?

In order to uncover the ethnicity of a particular buyer audience on Amazon, a few defining features must be considered. These relate to popular holidays, needs and wants, as well as geography and psychographics.

Popular holidays are one way of uncovering an audience because these special days throughout the year are a sign of common and shared cultural practices among a given ethnic, national, linguistic, or cultural group.

Regarding needs and wants, a consideration of these factors will enable you to better tailor your products to your audience. However, you’ll also be able to segment it further as one cannot generalize about shared characteristics of a particular group.

Finally, there are geographical and psychographic considerations. A Black person in New York will have different needs and requirements from a t-shirt product as opposed to one living in Los Angeles, California or even Chicago.

Therefore, segmenting an audience can appear to be a complex task that requires extreme attention to detail and thorough analysis. But utilizing some of the key characteristics mentioned above can go a long way in helping you unearth a new audience and better cater to their needs and ultimately their search queries.

How big is the African American segment of buyers on Amazon?

To determine the scope of the Black segment of buyers on Amazon, and particularly on Amazon Merch on Demand, we explored the number of listings on Amazon.com. These helped us determine the levels of supply and their associated demand. Here’s what we found:

  • Over 60,000 results for “African American tshirts for kids”
  • Over 60,000 results for “African American tshirts for girls”
  • Over 40,000 results for “African American tshirts for women plus size”
  • Over 30,000 results for “African American tshirts for women queen”
  • Over 30,000 results for “African Amerian tshirts for women vneck”
  • Over 5,000 results for “African American tshirts for women”
  • Over 5,000 results for “African American tshirts”
  • Over 4,000 results for “African American tshirts for men”
  • Over 1,000 results for “African American tshirts for womens graphic”
  • Over 167 results for “African American tshirts for women for august”

These results are a strong indication that with over 235,167 results on Amazon, there is a high supply of African American products that implies a high search demand.

It’s also apparent that these search queries indicate a higher supply of products for children and girls, followed by women, with the lowest number of items available being targeted at men.

Sellers should take note of this segmentation and attempt to cater to African American children and women as that is where the highest demand appears to be.

How big is the African American segment of buyers on Amazon Merch on Demand and what are they buying?

Next, we used Merch Informer to help us gain deeper insights into the African American segment to determine what the most popular themes and products are. This is coupled with exploring the products’ best-sellers rank (BSR) and average price.

Our findings reveal the following:

  • “Black History Month”: BSR (7,211,176), average price ($17.34)
  • “Black”: BSR (6,825,552), average price ($17.44)
  • “Black queen”: BSR (6,632,962), average price ($17.64)
  • “African American”: BSR (6,589,545), average price ($17.51)
  • “Melanin”: BSR (6,520,752), average price ($17.83)
  • “African American shirts”: BSR (6,585,838), average price ($17.53)
  • “African American tshirts”: BSR (6,536,781), average price ($17.61)
  • “Afro”: BSR (6,286,065), average price ($17.96)
  • “Kwanzaa”: BSR (2,000,858), average price ($17.92)
  • “Melanin shirts for black women”: BSR (866,175), average price ($17.71)
  • “African American tshirts for women”: BSR (361,527), average price ($17.24)
  • “Martin Luther King Jr.”: BSR (320,871), average price ($19.24)
  • “Black sisterhood”: BSR (44,478), average price ($17.66)
  • “Malcolm X”: BSR (1,711), average price ($19.89)

What’s interesting to note from these results is the fact that, if we look at listings that have a BSR of under 500,000, we see that women are dominating the scene. This is made evident by keywords used, such as “African American tshirts for women”, which get a low BSR of 361,527 and “Black sisterhood” which gets an even lower BSR of only 44,478.

The female segment of the African American market on Amazon Merch on Demand is followed by more politically-minded searches as seen by the “Martin Luther King Jr.” t-shirt with another low BSR of 320,871 and an even lower BSR of 1,711 for the “Malcolm X” products on the platform.

Also interesting when looking at the average price is that none of the keywords searched for above are priced higher than $20.00 and below $15.00. This is another mental note that a seller should make if they want to cater to Black customers on Amazon Merch on Demand.

Who are the top sellers in the African American segment and what are they doing right to attract these buyers?

The two top sellers in the African American segment are “Melanin & Black History Shirt Co.” and “american pride”.

The first seller has created the “Brown Sugar Babe Afro Queen Black Women Pride Melanin T-Shirt”. This item has an impressively low BSR of 135,222. Although the item has zero ratings and reviews, it has made 19 sales at a price of $16.98. When multiplied together, this gives us a turnover of $322.62.

Interestingly enough, the seller has squeezed in quite a few popular and sought after keywords in the title, using the keywords “afro”, “queen”, “Black”, and “melanin” together. This casts out a wider net and captures a greater African American female audience. Their description is also highly detailed and this is evident by the fact that these and other related keywords have been neatly included in the mix.

The second merchant mentioned above sells the “Afro Hair Natural Black History tshirt Juneteenth Pride T-Shirt”. American pride has done well with a low BSR of only 151,291. This item has received 231 ratings so far, which is a strong indication of social proof that the t-shirt is a worthwhile purchase. Selling 16 items at a price of $17.98, we get an estimated turnover of $287.68. This is not a bad amount to have in your account from a side gig at all.

So, what has this seller done right to reach these sales and get in front of the right audience? We first look at the keywords in the title and description. The seller has again compacted keywords such as “afro”, “Black history” and even “Juneteenth”, the latter being a celebration of freedom from enslavement for African Americans in the United States. This item’s description is also highly detailed and includes numerous sought-after keywords like “melanin” “Black girl”, “afro”, and also “pride”.

Both sellers have applied a pricing strategy that directly targets the average price of around $17.00 for these and other related keywords. What’s more is that their designs are original with “Brown Sugar Babe…” being a text-only t-shirt, whereas the “Afro Hair…” t-shirt is a design-only item.

Our tip-list for sellers in this segment

A few common themes and strategies emerge based on our observations of the top sellers in the African American segment.

Firstly, we explore the keyword usage in the titles and descriptions. Both sellers have done well to incorporate relevant and highly sought-after keywords in both spaces allocated by Amazon. This means they will be found faster and easier by customers looking for shirts with search queries including words like “afro”, “black history”, “Black queen”, “melanin”, and others.

Secondly, each of the best-sellers have applied a pricing strategy that is almost precisely at the average point of $17.00. This is a strong sales strategy because it signals a quality product as well as higher value for money.

Furthermore, it’s apparent that your t-shirt design should be original. This is irrespective of whether you’re creating a text-only or a design-only product. In either case, the fonts, colors, centering of the text or image, and other design elements play a crucial role in capturing the audience’s attention.

Finally, we explore the ratings and reviews. There is a strong contrast between the two top sellers mentioned above. Whereas one seller has no ratings and reviews at all, the other has over 200. While ratings and reviews are not necessarily a factor that affects sales directly, they can be viewed as an indirect criterion for a customer making a purchase. Therefore, the more ratings and reviews, the more social proof there is that the product is of a quality nature and that it is worth purchasing.

Final thoughts

There is vast scope for joining Amazon Merch on Demand by targeting the African American segment. The prices of these products average around the $17.00 mark, which means that there is room for profitability. You simply need to target your audience using the right keywords to ensure you appear in the results of their search queries. This should be done in both the title and the description.

In order to help you optimize your listing to its highest potential, we highly recommend using Merch Informer for your research. The software’s extensive functionalities will enable you to dig deep into any market segment and be able to target the right audience with the right product at the right time.

And the best part? It’s only $9.99 per month.

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