The Hispanic Market & Beef Retailers

How does the sizeable Hispanic market translate to dollars and cents for beef retailers?
Studies have shown that Latinos are the main source of growth for the grocery industry. Hispanics shop at grocery stores about 26 times a month — triple the average of the general population. With Hispanics in your store almost daily, the potential impact on your bottom line can be significant due to the increasing Latino buying power.

To access the PDF document, click on the image.

Latino Voters

According to the Census Bureau, 50.5 million Hispanics were counted by the 2010 Census, which is 16.3% of the nation’s population. However, less than 7% of voters in the mid-term elections were latino.

Latino Voters

In two recent Pew Hispanic Center articles, it has come to my attention that the hispanic population in the US represents an even more powerful political force than previously thought. This political power however, is not yet being fully realized.

According to the Census Bureau, 50.5 million Hispanics were counted by the 2010 Census, which is 16.3% of the nation’s population. However, less than 7% of voters in the mid-term elections were latino. This gap is driven by the relative youth of the latino community (34.9% are younger than the voting age of 18) as well as weak voter motivation. As it turns out, weak voter motivation is at least partially driven by youth as well.

This rapidly increasing segment of the population will be of voting age within the next 5-10 years and it is imperative that it play an active role in the future of US policy making. Active communication to this vital demographic, on the part of hispanic marketers, is just one of the many ways that this community can be further brought into the fold. The political power wielded by this group is going to be a force to be reckoned within the years to come.

NCAA Basketball

Of course through a Google search I was able to find various articles with a few key word matches. The first was an article from 1999, “Hispanics are Immune to March Madness”,  which while interesting is a bit out of date. The second was an article in Hispanic Business that went into detail stating that your office pool is illegal and that companies should have a policy against it. OK, so I was 0-2 in my initial search and decided to try another tactic.

I decided to check out some key Spanish language sites with a sports section such as ESPN Deportes, Univision and Terra. While I did find nice photos of cheerleaders, lots of soccer news, pre-season baseball scores, and even some Formula 1 racing information, information about the NCAA tournament was pretty much non-existent or at least well-hidden.

In the midst of the NCAA Tournament, I am surprised by the lack of attention given to this prime-time finale and am looking forward to seeing the program ratings. If any of you come across information related to this or other posts, please leave your comment.

Hispanic or Latino

Before even beginning to address the question of targeting the Hispanic market, advertisers should be aware of the fact that there is no consensus as to whether Americans of Latin American origin prefer to identify as Latino or Hispanic.  Indeed, there has been some controversy regarding the matter.  A good summary of the back and forth can be found on a Wikipedia page that presents the history of this debate.  At no point in time did the diverse groupings of Americans of Latin American origin decide, “we want to be called this or that”.  Indeed, a study shows that, when asked, most Hispanics/Latinos identify not as such, but according to their national origin.  I know that I identify as a Mexican first and foremost, rather than as a Latina, which I find to be an artifcial word with little meaning to me.

The term Hispanic was coined in 1970 for the purpose of counting people for the annual U.S. Census, specifically, “a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.” It is only in the year 2000 that the Census began using the ethnonym “Spanish/Hispanic/Latino”, as prevailing terms changed.

The controversy over whether to call oneself  Hispanic or Latino is largely native to California. I have also learned that Latino is prevalent on the West Coast, whereas Hispanic is more often used in the East Coast. Anecdotally, I know that some people prefer to identify as Latino because of the perception that the word Hispanic refers to the Spanish heritage of Latin Americans, whereas Latino emphasizes the indigenous aspect of mestizo identity, not realizing that Latino is also an invented term- and invented by the French, no less (from Amérique Latine).  Whether Hispanic or Latino, Dominicano or Chicana, Nuyorican or Argentinean, American, Tejano, Chiapaneco or Colombiana, people with Latin American backgrounds identify as many things. The one common denominator?  The Spanish language.  The debate continues…