Commentary
Predominant Language and Birth Location Segments Hispanic Community Shopping
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 14, 2010
According to an analysis of the BIGresearch® Simultaneous Media Usage Survey, the message is loud and clear to marketers serving, the U.S. Hispanic community: "one-size-fits-all marketing won't work." The study finds that there are key similarities and differences every marketer should know about Hispanic groups in America including those households that speak English a majority of the time and those who don't, as well as Hispanics who were born in the U.S. and those who were not. ??
For example, shopping and media preferences of English dominant Hispanics (speak English more than 50% of the time) and those born in the U.S. are mostly similar. Likewise the preferences of Spanish dominant Hispanics (speak English 50% or less of the time) and those not born in the U.S. are very similar.
Shopping Preferences by Selected Demographics | ||
| English Dominant Hispanics and U.S. Born Hispanics | Spanish Dominant Hispanics and Non-U.S. Born Hispanics |
Top 3 Stores Shopped for Women's Clothing
| Macy's Walmart Kohl's | Macy's JCPenney Walmart |
Top 3 Stores Shopped for Electronics
| Best Buy Walmart Target | Best Buy Walmart Amazon |
Top 3 Radio Formats
| Rock Top 40/Pop Hip-Hop | Latin Rock Hip-Hop |
Source: BIGresearch, May 2009 | ||
When it comes to new media, English dominant and U.S.-born Hispanics are more likely to text on their cell phones and use TiVo/DVR while Spanish dominant Hispanics and those not born in the U.S. are more likely to blog and use instant messaging. ??
New Media Usage | ||||
| Hispanics | |||
| English Dominant | U.S. Born | Spanish Dominant | Non-U.S. Born |
Blog | 12.9% | 12.7% | 20.2% | 20.1% |
Instant Message | 29.9% | 29.5% | 44.1% | 38.7% |
Text Message on Cell Phone | 49.6% | 49.3% | 44.7% | 44.4% |
TiVO/DVR | 29.7% | 30.1% | 21.2% | 22.9% |
Source: BIGresearch, May 2009 | ||||
Likely to read traditional media:
· English dominant (94%) and U.S Born (93.5%) Hispanics are slightly more likely to watch TV in an average week than Spanish dominant (92%) and Non-U.S. born (90.8%) Hispanics
· The latter groups are more likely to read the newspaper... Spanish dominant (64.4%) and Non-U.S. born (62.7%) v. English dominant (55.7%) and U.S Born (54.5%)??
Mariana Toledo, Marketing and Research Director, Televisa Publishing + Digital, said "... this data show us the power of Hispanics as consumers... (and) how crucial it is for marketers to understand the importance of segmenting Hispanics... to effectively reach all the niche markets... "
One thing all these segments have in common is that they are planning to buy. Whether it's a car, electronics or vacation travel, Hispanics outpace the general market when it comes to purchase intentions. ??
Plan to Buy Within Next 6 Months | |||||
| English Dominant | U.S. Born | Spanish Dominant | Non-U.S. Born | Adults 18+ |
Car | 15.9% | 14.7% | 16.8% | 19.6% | 11.8% |
Computer | 24.6% | 22.7% | 27.9% | 28.4% | 18.6% |
TV | 22.9% | 21.1% | 20.0% | 22.4% | 16.1% |
Vacation | 24.5% | 23.1% | 28.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
Source: BIGresearch, May 2009 | |||||
To access the full complimentary report as a PDF file, including purchases intentions and top media influences, please visit BIGresearch here:
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
These numbers are really interesting.
So I'm looking for the take-away, and I keep staring at the data from different angles, and like as or not, I keep coming back with the vague (or in some continua, distinct) impression that non-US-born and Spanish-dominant Hispanics are more inquisitive, more intellectually active, more literate, and more enthusiastic consumers.
I'm not sure the differences are distinct enough for national marketers to worry about segmenting populations, as Ms. Toledo of Televisa recommends. About the biggest difference in kind (as opposed to degree) is the appearance of (American, presumably) Top 40 on the radio playlists of US-born/English-forward Hispanics. I'd caution radio monetizers _not_ to assume that this necessarily belies a latent demand for Britney and Lady GaGa sides in global Hispanic markets.
On the other hand, it worries me that coming to America and learning English appears to have a distinct stupefying effect on immigrants, making them 100% more likely to listen to (US) Top 40, half as likely to blog or communicate in full sentences, and 33% less likely to read newspapers. Scary, no?
The data I've used from MRI & Simmons show English-speaking & US-born Hispanics are much more likely to be better educated and have higher incomes than Spanish speaking and non-US born Hispanics.
Additionally, a lot of Hispanic product purchases & media habits (especially English dominant) seem to be driven more by their relatively youthful age skew (i.e. median age is about 10 years younger than non-Hispanics) than their ethncity.