Speak The Language Of Hispanic Shoppers

Appealing to Hispanics, a powerful and growing shopper segment in grocery and other retail sectors, requires marketers to have a deeper understanding of Hispanic shopper behavior.

U.S. Census projections predict that by 2060, the percentage of Hispanics in the United States will almost double to roughly one-third of the population. U.S. Hispanics continue to be a rapidly growing multicultural group in the country and are already driving a disproportionately large share of spending growth across a number of categories from technology and telecommunications to food at home and away from home.

Within grocery, not only are Hispanic shoppers making more frequent trips to the store, they are also driving stronger sales growth than their non-Hispanic counterparts—specifically in the produce, household care, beauty and personal care, pet care, dairy, and general merchandise categories.

There’s no question that Hispanics are a priority shopper segment for marketers; the question is how to best reach and appeal to this core audience. Manufacturers and retailers in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world ask us this question time and again, which is why each year our teams at Acosta and Univision Communications Inc. undertake a dedicated research effort to study Hispanic shopper behavior and publish our findings in “The Why? Behind The Buy U.S. Hispanic Shopper Study.”

The study provides an insightful look at Hispanic shoppers’ path to purchase, including how they shop and make purchase decisions. And while this report focuses on grocery shopping, it also provides food for thought for chief marketing officers and marketers at large who are also competing for share of Hispanic spending in their respective sectors.

An Enjoyable Experience For Hispanics

For Hispanics, grocery shopping is viewed less as a chore and more as an enjoyable social experience. Our research shows 68% of Hispanic shoppers—and an even higher seven in 10 Hispanic Millennials—enjoy grocery shopping (versus 59% of total U.S. shoppers).

Add to that the fact that 79% of Hispanic shoppers report shopping with someone else, such as a spouse, child, or friend, and it’s easy to see that shopping in the eyes of Hispanics is about far more than bringing home food to feed the family; it’s an opportunity to spend time with loved ones while exploring and experiencing something new.

Marketers must take advantage of these experiential shoppers and use the in-store experience to keep them shopping down each and every aisle. This includes looking for creative approaches to providing service offerings that deliver an engaging shopping experience for them and their companions.

In-Store You Can’t Ignore

Marketers must consider shopper engagement in the broadest sense and think about how they can enhance the total shopping experience, given that Hispanic consumers are highly interactive shoppers.

At the grocery store, Hispanics are significantly more likely to take advantage of special services and areas, such as in-store cafeterias or coffeehouses, and are also more likely to participate in in-store cooking demonstrations and product tastings. Hispanic shoppers are clearly willing to see the store as more than just aisles of products, providing marketers the ripe opportunity to provide added value to shoppers while also fostering loyalty through an enjoyable, distinctive customer experience.

Digital Does It

High levels of in-store engagement don’t diminish the important role that digital, mobile, and social technology take in connecting with Hispanic shoppers along the path to purchase.

When we look at digital behaviors related to grocery shopping pre-trip, during the trip, and post-trip, we see significantly more Hispanic consumers than U.S. shoppers doing things like reading a store’s digital circular, using a shopping list on their mobile devices, and signing up for a product or store sweepstakes.

Knowing that Hispanics are actively participating in these types of activities, marketers can be most effective in leveraging digital by moving beyond simple couponing. Leveraging digital services to provide shoppers with solutions that address everyday challenges like meal planning or running an efficient household will blend engagement and technology to strengthen shopper affinity.

There is no one silver bullet strategy for winning with Hispanics, but marketers must challenge themselves to think holistically about the shopper experience and truly understand their mindset to gain their attention and favor.