Catering to Hispanic Consumers

When the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 numbers were released, no one was surprised that the Hispanic market had grown. What was surprising was the number itself — 35.2 million Latinos resided in the United States in 2000, or 12.5 percent of the total U.S. population. And the likelihood is the Hispanic population will more than double again in the next 50 years. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2025, we will have the world's second-largest Hispanic population and by 2050, one in every four Americans will be of Hispanic origin.

A Changing Landscape

The word "Hispanic" is a U.S. marketing term. It does not refer to a race of people, but rather is a term that clumps a conglomeration of ethnicities into one ethnic classification. Members of these ethnicities come from 20 different countries who once here in the U.S. refer to themselves as Hispanic or Latino.

"This is tomorrow's mainstream market. It's not a niche," states Thomas Tseng, director of marketing for the Los Angeles-based Cultural Access Group. "You can't afford to ignore these consumers anymore."

Since 1990, this growing segment has expanded 57.9 percent — more than four times the rate of nonHispanics. Anyone involved in retail has to be cognizant of this ethnic group which now comprises 40 million Americans. Hispanic purchasing power is increasing at greater than twice the national rate and is currently estimated at anywhere from $400 billion to $542 billion per year. And, that spending is estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2010. If you take their buying power as a group and compare it against world trade, U.S. Hispanics would rank 11th among world leaders in gross product consumption.

A recent two-day conference held in Miami, Fla., was dedicated to providing attendees with strategies for reaching the U.S. Hispanic market. During the conference, a series of research gurus tackled incumbent issues.

Ricardo Lopez, president of East Brunswick, N.J.-based Hispanic Research, said, "The Hispanic market is the growth market of the future — without the Hispanic market, there will not be significant growth in the U.S. market in the next 50 years. In order to do business in the U.S., we have to pay attention to the Hispanic market."

Cesar M. Melgoza, president of Miami-based information solutions firm Geoscape, said the importance of the Hispanic family and culture will have a profound impact on retail in the coming decade.

"There's nearly 40 million Hispanics now and we're growing very rapidly. We tend to have larger families, so we spend more than average for many categories in consumer goods, particularly in the food categories," he said. "Much of the Hispanic culture is food and entertainment oriented. Food is