Hispanic Consumer Trends: Study Finds Latino Shoppers Spend More Online Than In Stores

Now that Halloween is behind us, all focus is now directly tuned to the forthcoming holiday season, and with that comes a nearly incessant amount of holiday shopping. With the amount of consuming that occurs from November through December, it should come with little shock, that retailers actively work for weeks and months before the shopping season begins in order to not only attract, but appeal to as many consumers as possible.

One aspect of this work is analytics, and with Nielsen’s annual Holiday Sales Forecast already published, you can safely assume that toy stores, mass retailers, supermarkets and other shopping hot spots are breaking it down and determine the best way to get shoppers to spend even more in 2014. One interesting aspect of this year’s reports directly related to multicultural consumers, specifically Hispanic consumers, who are reportedly leading the way when it comes to shopping and are expected to largely contribute to the 2% increase expected in holiday sales this year.

Hispanics, who make up approximately one-sixth of the U.S. population are having a huge impact in multiple different industries, from shopping to politics and education, the group at 54 million strong is effectively changing the way products are marketed, and sold, they are changing the ways politicians debate and what issues are addressed, and they are also changing the make-up of America’s school system. As for consuming though, the growing impact is seemingly boundless with Hispanics collectively having $1.4 trillion buying power. The data of 2014 Holiday Sales Forecast published by Nielsen was derived from two traditional studies, the first was a consumer study of more than 25,000 U.S. households, which was collected in September. The second, is analysis of 92 related categories spanning five distinct departments including, food, beverage, alcohol, health & beauty aids and home care products, these departments represent more than $100 billion in sales.

Some key Hispanic insights collected from the study are interesting with 24% of Hispanics expected to participate in more online shopping as opposed to only 19% from total households. Again Hispanics have a higher percentage when comparing gift card purchase, with 15 % of Hispanics expected to spend more on gift cards as opposed to 12% of total households. The final statistics is two parts but both indicate the willingness of Hispanics spending for the holiday season, 13% of Hispanics are expected to spend more at mass retailers compared to 10 % of total households, the same percentage of Hispanics are expected to spend more at toys when again compared to 10% of total households.

"This is a wake-up call," says James Russo, vice president of consumer insights at Nielsen. "Holiday is just a reflection of what's happening across the larger consumer retail landscape. This will continue well beyond the holiday season."