Gay consumers still spending, Aussie experts say

In Australia, where financial turmoil is leading to multi-billion-dollar bailouts similar to those in the U.S., gay marketing experts are predicting that most gays and lesbians will continue to spend at higher levels than their straight peers.

Christopher Brookes, President of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association, says that gay travel is expected to hold up well, as will businesses such as bars and clubs. “Gay and lesbian people are spending on holidays still,” he says, citing popular fly-in New Year’s events such as the Tropical Fruits festival. While gay parents will likely have to make tough spending choices, “The single gay and lesbian person and double-incomes, they’re going to be fine,” Brookes says. “They’re not even thinking about the money, so it’s not affecting the gay luxury goods.”

Other experts are only slightly less sanguine. “I think that we’re still able to spend more than the straight community, but people are being more cautious and selective,” says Peter Stephenson, president of Melbourne-based Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Business and Enterprise (GLOBE).

And Robert Manuel, director of gay marketing agency OutAds, says the majority of the gay population, “being a classic DINK segment, will definitely weather the storm better, financially, than their married-with-kids heterosexual counterparts.” He believes gay consumers will continue to spend through a recession, though perhaps with less abandon than before.

“Gay consumers are very brand-loyal and are early adopters, and recession or not, always want to keep up with the latest trends,” Manuel says. “Gay people spend their money on the same things as the rest of the population but now with little discretionary spend, we’ll see them spend less on multiple purchases, for example, buying one new shirt instead of two.”

“Pink spenders unfazed by recession,” SX magazine (Australia)