Commentary

Back to School: A Lesson In Multicultural Marketing

As the days of poolside lounging and amusement parks come to an end, marketers and retailers face one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year: Back to School.

Traditionally, back to school has been a consistent tour de force for companies. After all, each new year brings a new crop of kids who have "outgrown" their clothes, shoes, backpacks, hairstyles, etc., etc. And while the amount purchased varies, the buying itself will always be an American institution. Or will it? Stay American, that is.

A close look at any southern border city in the United States will reveal that more and more Mexican nationals are making the trek to the United States to engage in Back to School shopping.

With the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the reduction of trade barriers and tariffs between the United States and Mexico, more Mexican nationals have access to American-made products and can compare the quality of these goods with Mexican made goods more readily. If a brand has popular cache, this will also help to further enhance the perceived quality of American products.

advertisement

advertisement

The actual retail channel itself can have a lot to do with this quality perception. U.S. malls and retail outlets invest a great deal of money in making shopping centers appealing and relevant to certain lifestyles. This option is not always available to most middle-class Mexican citizens. Mexican nationals also tend to prefer American products because they are not widely available in their marketing areas. There's a tremendous selection of products that we take for granted here that aren't available to people south of the border.

Still not convinced that these are viable customers who might need your attention, especially if your company does business in Texas, California, New Mexico or Arizona? Here are some interesting insights that might open your eyes.

Eighty percent of Mexican travelers are between 18 and 39 years of age, and are prime shopping targets. The largest segment falls in the 18 to 24 year- old category. The majority of Mexican nationals traveling in the U.S. have an average annual income under $50,000. However, 33 percent earn at least $50,000 annually. Annual income decreases for day travelers from the border region where 69 percent of day shoppers earn less than $25,000. Mexican travelers coming through air carriers, however tend to have an average annual income of $80,400.

Mexican nationals have a tendency to splurge on vacations, especially on shopping, dining, and lodging. They also tend to splurge on their children and spend more on gifts and souvenirs than other international visitors. In Texas alone, Mexican travelers averaged $3.3 billion in total spending in the past four years. And they did not just use cash.

Almost 66 percent of upscale Mexican travelers have a credit card. Thirty- five percent of these people use Visa, 24 percent use MasterCard, and 19 percent use American Express. And what do they spend their money on? Shopping has been rated as the primary activity for Mexican visitors, with a whopping 80 percent participation rate. Along the border that participation rate rises to 97 percent. When probed, 30 percent of Mexican international travelers admitted taking a U.S. trip primarily to shop in 2002. In fact 49 percent of Mexican Visa usage in the United States is spent on clothing stores compared to eight percent on hotels and five percent on restaurants, making these ideal shoppers during back to school for clothing retailers.

While the majority of Mexican travelers who visit the U.S. are from middle to upper-middle income brackets, and have established credit and bank accounts that allow them to have good disposable income when looking for back to school deals, they should not be the only ones marketers should think of as a source of income. As these consumers head back to Mexico for the fall, many use varying means of transportation. More than half use their own private cars (which need gasoline), more than a third use rental cars, 30 percent use taxis and limousines to get around, and 27 percent report using airlines. Indeed, there are many other customer products and services that could conceivably be marketed to Mexican nationals, which, once embraced, can expect reliable and potentially higher frequency of purchase during shopping trips into the U.S.

Still not convinced that the Mexican national is a niche market within the Hispanic population that marketers need to address? How about this for motivation: They come specifically to shop and they have the money to spend.

Luis Garcia is president of Garcia360, a San Antonio-based multicultural marketing agency.

Next story loading loading..