A recent report by the Nielsen Market Research company entitled In State of the Hispanic Consumer: The Hispanic Market Imperative, suggests that the U.S. Latino market is young, mobile and growing.
For example, while the median age of the non-Latino population is 37 years, the median age of the Latino segment is 28, nearly a decade younger, according to the Nielsen Market Research report. This suggests that the following economic sectors should benefit from the growing Latino demographic: housing; food (grocery and restaurants); retail (especially clothing and electronics); education (higher education and technical schools); financial services; transportation (automotive and airline); and entertainment and media.
Not only is the Latino consumer segment young, it is growing. Between 2000 and 2011, Latinos accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase. In addition, while the traditional population centers (such as California, Texas and Florida) have experienced significant growth in the Latino population, other areas of the country have seen major increases as well. For example, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Hispanics account for 27% of the city’s total population growth since 2000. For St. Paul, Minn., the figure was 20%; for Sioux City, Iowa, 60%. In Portland, Ore., Latinos are growing 4.4 times faster than any other group in the market.
Still, Latino consumers are maintaining their own cultural identity when it comes to product and services purchases. The report revealed that Latinos spend 68% more time watching video on the Internet and 20% more time watching video on their mobile phones than non-Hispanic whites. In addition, Latinos make fewer shopping trips per household than non-Hispanics, but spend more per trip. Finally, 90% of Latino parents and parents-to-be want their children to be able to speak Spanish, even though they also want them to become fluent in English.
The report concludes that Hispanics are fast becoming the key trend setters in the marketplace. Thus, the report recommends that smart businesses and marketers will have to pay increased attention to this growing consumer group.