The New Shopper Acculturation Model

The acculturation model has started to show some cracks in the last 15 years. It was designed to address immigrant-driven diversity. With most Hispanic population growth now coming from native-born Hispanics, the relevance of a framework designed to explain an immigrant experience has increasingly become irrelevant. It’s the understanding of the nation coming together and eliminating what makes us different. This includes all ethnicities including white adopting more and more different ethnicities behaviors into their day-to-day lifestyle.

From Assimilation to Acculturation to Polyculturalism–from blending in–to adopt–to become a new one. Polyculturalism – the extent to which consumers adapt and balance multiple cultures and become one.

The challenge – how do we adapt the Polyculturalism approach to local market trends at retail. One shopper universal truth distilled to specific regions, channels and retail partners.