2010 Latina Shopper Study on HispanicAd.com & HispanicCMO.com

We’ve partnered with our friends at Hispanicad.com & HispanicCMO.com in order to publicize non-proprietary data on a regular basis over the next 13 weeks. In addition, we will post our comments around the data on RedbeanBlogs. We invite you to ask your questions and post comments of your own right here on RedbeanBlogs and we will respond.

The results reveal many insights that to some level begin to dispel the somewhat accepted myth that Latinas are overwhelmingly brand loyal, emotional in their brand choices and predominantly buy in the same stores every week.

The economic crisis of the last couple of years and the rising of a more acculturated group of Latinas, have irreversibly changed the way they shop for themselves and their families. In fact, Latinas are on the driver’s seats of their shopping carts, in-store and online.

While a good number of these women (29%) still like to shop in-store and see/touch/feel what they are buying, a whopping 31% are shopping online and 25% browse and research online before they go shopping. Even those that fit more closely to our Spanish-dominant shopper moms, “Las Exploradoras” visit a number of stores looking for special deals, coupons (YES! COUPONS!!), and they like to experiment with new products. Let us introduce you to Las Exploradoras, Las Digitalistas, Las Pragmaticas and Las Fre$itas, a brave new world of Latina shoppers.

The implications for marketers abound. For starters, marketers need to view shopper marketing as they do all other components of the marketing mix. It’s strategy, not execution; forefront, not afterthought. We need to understand consumers not only as users and influencers to usage but as shoppers. This is no longer only about Spanish language packaging or POS materials. To stand out above the noise at the store, shopper marketing needs to evolve from the display piece and the in-store sampling to full shopping experiences that are grounded on shopper insights and relevant to the target shopper.

After all, this is the fastest growing consumer segment in the U.S. and Latina shoppers are the decision makers for over 80% of all purchases among Hispanic households.