CHICAGO — Lower-income and multicultural shoppers represent a $115 billion retail opportunity over the next decade, SymphonyIRI Group Inc. research finds.

Lower-income and multicultural shoppers represent a $115 billion retail opportunity over the next decade, SymphonyIRI Group Inc. research finds.

However, those consumers are among the most misunderstood and underserved in the nation, according to the SymphonyIRI study, titled “The Lower-Income Shopper Report: Serving Lower-Income/Multicultural Shopper Micro-Segments.”

"Many retailers and manufacturers take a one-size-fits-all approach to reaching lower-income shoppers, but with a $115 billion opportunity at stake and increasing competition to win their share of wallet, a mass market view of these shoppers will not be enough to win their loyalty," says Sean Seitzinger, a Symphony Consulting partner at SymphonyIRI. "Only retailers and manufacturers that embrace a microsegmentation strategy to truly understand the needs and wants of these varied, nuanced and multicultural shopper groups will be able to serve them effectively and profitably."

The study comes out in the wake of a Census Bureau report that the number of Americans living in poverty rose by nearly 4 million to 43.6 million in 2009, the largest figure in the 51 years that the data has been tracked. The official poverty rate was 14.3%, meaning that one in seven Americans was living in poverty — the highest level since 1994.