Hispanics Shop Online More Than General Population

U.S. Hispanics over-index in a number of key digital behaviors, showing themselves more likely than the general population to do things like using social media and mobile coupons.

That trend extends to online shopping as well, according to data from Experian Marketing Services, based on a survey of e-commerce activity conducted from June to November this year.
 
Overall, Hispanics’ share of visits to the top 500 retail Web sites tracked by Experian’s Hitwise measurement service was 21% higher than the online population in general. This behavior is enabled by smartphones, with 54% of Hispanic smartphone owners visiting a shopping site with their mobile browser during a typical month.

Hispanics also spend more time browsing retail Web sites than non-Hispanic smartphone owners. Hispanic smartphone owners over-indexed in using their mobile devices to visit Macys.com (245 compared to an index of 100 for non-Hispanics), Sears.com (187), Gamestop.com (159), Walmart.com (153), and Oldnavy.com (140).
 
In terms of specific behaviors, adult Hispanic smartphone owners are twice as likely as non-Hispanics to say they are interested in receiving ads on their phone, 58% are more likely to purchase products they see advertised on their phone, and 13% are more likely to say they use their phone while shopping to find local deals.
 
Turning to social media, according to Experian, 69% of Hispanics surveyed use social media once a day, compared to 62% of non-Hispanics. Hispanics are also 6% more likely to follow companies and brands on social media, and 30% more likely to buy products they see advertised on social media sites.
 
Previous research has noted similar trends. In November, Valassis released the results of a study showing that 84.2% of U.S. Hispanic consumers have searched for an online coupon based on a recommendation, compared to 70.6% of all U.S. consumers, and 80.2% have used discounts from a mobile device or downloaded them to a loyalty card, compared to 66% of the overall population.

Plus, 69.6% of U.S. Hispanics said they have used coupons found on social media sites, compared to 53.9% of the population at large, and 61.2% said they have shared coupons via social media, compared to 39.4% of all consumers.
2 comments about "Hispanics Shop Online More Than General Population".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Alejandro Sanchez from optional, December 5, 2013 at 5:15 p.m.

    A question I have is if content in Spanish will further increase this engagement? Am especially interested in retail site like having product data in Spanish. any insight into this?

  2. Erik Sass from none, December 5, 2013 at 5:37 p.m.

    That's a good question, and while I don't have any specific data for retail sites, my guess is that it depends on the background of the consumer. Some recent studies (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/205296/more-hispanics-getting-news-in-english.html) have shown that acculturated, second-generation Hispanics are consuming more media in English, so I can only imagine they are comfortable shopping in English as well. Younger Hispanics are also more likely to be smartphone users and access the mobile Web. From all this I would guess (but it's just a guess) that the U.S. Hispanic mobile shopping population skews younger, more acculturated, and thus more receptive to shopping in English. But again, this is just a guess -- I will def. keep an eye out for information on this topic.

Next story loading loading..