Do Hispanics make purchases online?

 

The Hispanic market in the U.S. has grown dramatically during the last decade. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 2004 report, Hispanics are the largest growing minority in the United States. Hispanics represent 14% of the population and total 41.3 million individuals. Their buying power has nearly tripled since 1990, and their spending power is also increasing with a 20 percent increase in the median income of Hispanic households. Although traditional methods such as television, radio and newspaper have proven to be effective mediums to raise response, nowadays reaching out to Hispanic customers through the Internet can have major impact on marketers’ strategies. Thus, understanding the best way for marketers to reach Hispanics and their consumption habits is a must.

 

There has been a significant growth in the amount of Hispanics using the Internet for the first time. Research has shown that almost half of the adult Hispanic population has Internet access at home, and nearly 60 percent have access from any location. The online Hispanic consumer tends to be similar to the average online consumer except in age. Hispanics are substantially younger –five years in average- than their non-Hispanic counterparts and are likely to have a broadband connection. Internet usage among Hispanics varies depending on their level of acculturation.

 

Acculturated Hispanics are more likely to visit web sites that offer finance, entertainment and nutrition information, versus unacculturated users who prefer web sites that provide news on Latin America and on soccer. For both -acculturated and unacculturated- the Internet represents a useful source for social networking (i.e. instant messaging, sharing photos, or talking on a phone using the Internet). In terms of language choices, a study from AOL Latino finds that among acculturated online Hispanics, nearly 40% still find Spanish content appealing; while among the unacculturated, 37% prefer both languages.

 

In general, still most Hispanic adults would prefer to use the Internet in Spanish. A study from ComScore indicates that 65% of Hispanic Internet users last year were Spanish dominant. Thus, regardless of their language preference, Hispanics overall want access to information in both English and Spanish. They usually use this information to make final brand decision, and price comparisons. Some statistics show that for 68% online Hispanics the Internet was the best source for making a final brand decision and 72% use the Internet to compare prices.

One would assume then that as the number of Hispanics using the Internet grows (including considerations like level of acculturation) so will the number of Hispanics that make purchases online. But this is not necessarily the case, at least not in the same proportion. One reason has to do with language preference. As noted earlier, Spanish language is a vital element when communicating with the online Hispanic community. It is the lack of Spanish websites that is affecting this result and the fact that most English websites are not optimized for the Hispanic search engines.

 

Hispanics in most cases must enter the English version and search for the “En español” text link, which is far from ideal and does not always present the same information. Spanish content is important as well and must be culturally relevant to help engage the Hispanic consumer. Some numbers provided by Yankelovich Monitor show that 29% of Hispanics purchase products or services online, compared to 32% of African Americans and 40% of non-Hispanic. Among the things Hispanics purchase online are airline tickets, clothing or accessories, books, and cds, tapes or other music. There are additional considerations which are related to Hispanics behavior, specifically to how Hispanics like to shop. In general, Hispanics are more likely to plan their purchases and shop with others rather than individually. Further research could help determine the real impact of this type of behavioral variables.

 

While growth rates in the Hispanic online market are impressive they have not been affecting online response in the same way. Still the percentage of Hispanics that use the internet to find information about products and services is greater than the percentage that uses the internet to actually make a purchase. Effectively targeting the Hispanic online market requires a deep understanding of its complexities. Among the most important factors marketers need to address to be successful are the unique language preferences and cultural predispositions of the Hispanic online market.