• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 10, 2007

While English-speaking Hispanics are open-minded to private-label brands, less of those who speak only Spanish at home are willing to try them. Vertis Communications, a Baltimore-based company which tracks shopper perceptions, says that 88% of all English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S. have a "positive perception" of private-label store brands, but only 61% of those speaking only Spanish at home maintain a similar outlook. And about 27% of the Spanish-speaking Hispanics say they don't know enough about private-label store brands to want to try them. (That compares with about 14% of non-Hispanic adults.)

"Hispanic adults are more likely to read nutrition labels, less receptive to private labels and more easily influenced to buy products that display charitable information on the packaging," says Scott Marden, director of marketing research, who works on Vertis' annual Customer Focus OPINIONES research. "In addition, Hispanic adults are more likely to look for information regarding calories on the nutrition label."

Overall, 84% of non-Hispanic adults feel good about private labels, often commenting on a product's value, quality and availability. Young women ages 25 to 34 are their biggest fans, with 91% feeling good about private labels.

In terms of packaging messages, however, ethnicity made no difference: Both groups say the three most influential pieces of information on a product's packaging are all safety-related, and include whether a product is nontoxic, contains all-natural ingredients, and has safety guarantee language.

In terms of labeling information about nutrition, both groups are more likely to seek out calorie counts than anything else, with Hispanics more calorie-conscious than non-Hispanic adults. The reverse is true for fat content: About 32% of non-Hispanic adults look at fat content on nutrition labels, compared with 26% of Hispanic adults.

The study also finds some interesting gender differences within the Hispanic group. "Hispanic men, when compared to Hispanic women, and when compared to the U.S. male population, are more likely to purchase products with safety guarantees on the packaging," he says. "In fact, judging by the fact that 75% of Hispanic men read nutrition labels (vs. 68% of all U.S. men), the packaging/labeling of products appears to be a significant factor in reaching Hispanics, and Hispanic men specifically."

The study also found an inverse relationship between income and private-label use: The higher the income, the better shoppers feel about these value brands. For example, 44% of total adults making less than $20,000 a year have a negative perception of private-label store brands. But 89% of those with a household income of $50,000 to $75,000 have positive comments about private-label brands.

This was also true, Vertis says, in the Hispanic subset. The study finds that 85% of Hispanic adults ages 35-49 with incomes between $35,000 and $49,000 are positive about generics--while Hispanics 50 years of age and older, making $50,000 or less, are most likely to have negative comments.

"This data indicates that retailers with private-label brands have an opportunity to market to Spanish-speaking Hispanic audiences by communicating to them in their native language," the poll finds. "Incorporating relevant communication in marketing campaigns is imperative to establishing a connection with this influential audience."