Hispanic Holiday Spending: Key Insights into What’s Important to Hispanic Shoppers This Holiday Season

The holiday shopping season is fast upon us, and no one is more engaged in the “shopping experience” than Hispanics.

With the median age of Hispanic shoppers being 10 years younger than non-Hispanic whites — around 28 years old — many Hispanic shoppers fall into the highly sought-after Millennial segment, the second largest segment of the Hispanic population.

When you combine this segment’s relative youth with their enormous spending power, it becomes very clear that Hispanic shoppers will play a major role in the successes or failures of retail spending this holiday season.

In general, holiday spending in the U.S. is expected to increase by 11 percent this year, with the average consumer spending $646 on gifts. That being said, Hispanic shoppers’ role in that average will be determined by how well advertisers marry culture and insight into not only what Hispanics purchase, but how and why they make their purchases.

Hispanic Consumer Holiday Shopping Trends

To offer some insight, ThinkNow Research recently conducted a nationwide study of 500 Hispanics (men and women). Some of the findings were fascinating.

• Nearly three-fourths of all Hispanic shoppers will make multiple shopping trips, rather than doing it all in one trip, and that’s pretty consistent across all demographic slices of the group.
• Interestingly, only 30 percent of Hispanics (men or women) prefer to shop alone. Most will shop with adult family members or friends, a fact that demonstrates their strong sense of family and community. Enhance the in-store experience by making sure you have Spanish speakers on staff.
• Overall, at least 8 percent of all Hispanic shoppers plan to do at least some of their shopping online this year. That number jumps to 88 percent for male shoppers and to 91 percent for those with a household income greater than $40,000. Further, of the online shoppers, two-thirds said that 25 to 75 percent of their total holiday shopping will be done online.
• In addition, 72 percent of all Hispanics are “somewhat or very likely” to do some of their online shopping on Cyber Monday — a number that increases to 78 percent for Spanish-dominant speakers and a statistic that could translate into higher sales for retailers with a website in both English and Spanish.

A sense of community has always been vitally important to Hispanics, particularly among the lower acculturated groups — a fact that was validated by their sharing of shopping information:

• 64 percent of all Hispanics said they would text a friend about a “good deal” — a number that jumps to 81 percent among the lowest acculturated.
• 57 percent of all Hispanics said they would share good deals on social media, which goes up to 70 percent for the low-acculturated group. Offer exclusive online deals and discounts, and encourage shoppers to share them with their networks.

It’s important to note that attracting lower acculturated Hispanic shoppers early and cultivating the relationship as acculturation matures is an essential step in gaining a long-term customer and influencer in the Hispanic community.

Hispanic Holiday Shopping 2013 — Are You Ready?

It’s clear that Hispanics will be flexing their shopping muscle this holiday season. Advertisers must move away from the past stereotypical messages and mass-market appeals and unearth the real motivations behind every purchase decision made.

Only then can retailers effectively adapt product offerings and promotions to capture a portion of what’s up for grabs this holiday season.