ACNielsen Expands Industry-Leading Hispanic Market Research Effort; Language Preference-Based...

Business Editors

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2001

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU company, announced today an expansion of its Homescan(R) Hispanic panel from 725 to 1,500 households, an increase expected to generate new insights into the

increasingly important Hispanic market. The panel, covering the Los Angeles market, uses language preference as a barometer of acculturation, enabling marketers to go beyond broad Hispanic/non-Hispanic comparisons to understand behavioral differences within different segments of the market.

"Our expanded Hispanic panel will enable our clients to better understand additional nuances of this important consumer group," said Ken Greenberg, ACNielsen Homescan vice president. "Now, purchasing of lower-incidence items can be accurately reported from the panel." The expansion, Greenberg said, should be completed by the end of June.

The panel consists of a representative number of Los Angeles Hispanic households in which English is the preferred language, those that are bilingual and those in which Spanish is the language of choice, enabling the Los Angeles Hispanic community to be segmented by language preference. Using in-home scanners, panelists record all UPC-coded products that they purchase.

The Homescan Hispanic panel was established at the beginning of 1999 and has yielded important insights into the shopping behavior of Hispanic households, helping retailers and manufacturers better serve their Hispanic customers.

For example, the chart below looks at the penetration of bottled water and ready-to-drink apple juice among Los Angeles residents. It shows that, while bottled water is likely to be purchased by non-Hispanic households equally as much as Hispanic households, a closer look by language preference reveals that the most acculturated Hispanic households are much more likely to purchase bottled water than those that are less acculturated. Conversely, ready-to-drink apple juice is more likely to be purchased by less acculturated households.

        Purchased Category During the 52 Weeks Ending 12/23/00

-------- --------- -------- -------- --------- --------- ---------
Category Total Los Non-     Hispanic Spanish   Bilingual English
         Angeles   Hispanic          Only/               Only/
                                     Preferred           Preferred
-------- --------- -------- -------- --------- --------- ---------
Bottled
Water    72.5%     72.2%    73.1%    62.6%     81.2%     85.1%
-------- --------- -------- -------- --------- --------- ---------
Apple
Juice    46.1%     41.7%    56.8%    60.1%     57.9%     44.5%
-------- --------- -------- -------- --------- --------- ---------

"These insights demonstrate the strength of the panel," Greenberg pointed out. "In the bottled water example, without the ability to view households by language preference, a marketer could easily make the mistake of treating the Hispanic market in the same way that it treats the non-Hispanic market. However, a closer look shows that differing approaches are needed for the different acculturation segments. Doubling the panel size will further strengthen the panel's ability to provide the best possible understanding of this crucial market."

ACNielsen, a company of VNU N.V., is the world's leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behavior and new and traditional media in more than 100 countries. Clients include leading consumer product manufacturers and retailers, service firms, media and entertainment companies and the Internet community.

Note to Editors: Look for this press release and other ACNielsen news on the Internet at http://acnielsen.com/news.