Bloomberg Línea — The purchasing power of Hispanics in the U.S. could increase to $2.6 trillion over the next three years, “although the majority of brands and companies still do not take this market into account”, according to a report by LLYC and Expedition Strategies.
“The Hispanic community in the United States has significant purchasing power, which gives it a clear impact on the country’s society and industry. They are not only a subsegment of a target public, but a driver of the U.S. economy,” the report, entitled U.S. Hispanics, a new approach to understanding an untapped market, says.
Companies must be more strategic in their focus, as “U.S. Hispanics buy brands that empower their cultural relevance, and ”they like to see themselves reflected in things that interest them, or in the products they buy”, the report states.
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It’s for that reason that “companies that listen to them, grow with them and keep them committed will find loyal clients”, it adds.
The report says that Hispanics, who represent almost one in five Americans, are considered “the secret of the future” of the U.S., and “their purchasing power has increased by 69% (compared with 41% among non-Hispanics)”.
“Those 62.1 million people have the potential to become the most important driver of development in the future, with an increase in gross income that is 72% faster than the country’s general economy,” the report states.
Regarding the Hispanic population’s characteristics, the report says it is the most optimistic group among the country’s minorities, and of whom 49% believe that the U.S. is going in the right direction, while 43% is optimistic about the future.
Furthermore, 95% of Hispanics are proud of their heritage and 54% actively celebrate their roots, while they are seen as “people with a vision of the future, technological knowhow, educated, bilingual, well-off and the most diverse minority in the U.S.”
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The study carried out jointly with Pete Brodnitz shows that the Hispanic stereotype is wrong. Hispanics have purchasing power, they use debit or credit cards from the largest banks, consume news in English, they love Amazon and they aspire to buying an SUV, if possible a BMW.
Juan Felipe Muñoz, U.S. CEO at Llorente y Cuenca
Regarding their shopping habits, 41% of those consulted named articles relating to their appearance, such as clothes, shoes and accessories, as being among their recent favorite purchases.
“These kind of articles also represent more than 25% of all shopping on digital platforms,” the report states.
In addition, it states that Walmart (46.5%) and discount stores (14.6%) are among Hispanics’ main shopping channels in the U.S., while for online shopping, Amazon holds the top spot, with 53%.
“Twenty-one point seven percent of Latinos say that food is their most frequent online food purchase, and at least one-third of their online shopping basket contains organic and natural products”, according to the report.
It is also estimated that, after Caucasians, Hispanic consumers in the U.S. are the most likely to carry out banking transactions online, and Hispanic millennials see financial technology “as a big advantage that makes their lives easier”.
Hispanic consumers in the U.S. named Chase (29%), Bank of America (28%), Wells Fargo (22%) and Capital One (11%) as their favorite banks.
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Wells Fargo and Bank of America were highlighted because they have already carried out “real changes in their mobile banking experience”, and beyond simply translating their content “they adapted the language and took culture into account, creating information that makes sense to that community”.
Hispanic consumers in the U.S. say they “use traditional payment methods more frequently, such as debit cards (26%), credit cards (25%) and cash (17%)”.
“Hispanic women in the U.S. use debit cards more frequently than men (29% compared with 22%), while men use credit cards more frequently than women (30% compared with 21%)”, according to the report.
