Editor's note: Jackie Bird is CEO of Redbean Society, a New York communications company. David Morse is president and CEO of New American Dimensions, a Los Angeles research company. This article appeared in the January 13, 2011, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Hispanic households are projected to possess $1.4 trillion in buying power by 2013. To capture a share of this booming segment, marketers need to entice those who make the key spending decisions: Latinas. Latinas are the decision makers and influencers of over 80 percent of all purchases made in U.S. Hispanic households, making them a commanding force and a group worth attempting to understand and impress. However, this group is far from homogeneous. From spend-happy online shoppers who prefer English to Spanish-dominant frugalistas out to find stellar deals, there is great variance - and therefore diverse marketing opportunities - among Latinas.

The 2010 Latina Shopper Study, conducted by Redbean Society, a New York communications company, and Los Angeles research firm New American Dimensions, was fielded nationally among 1,200 women representative of the total female U.S. Hispanic population to help marketers better understand the dynamics of shopping behavior. Additionally, 12 focus groups were conducted in Los Angeles, Houston and New York.

The 2010 Latina Shopper Study identified four segments that were differentiated in terms of their attitudes, values, demographics and shopping behavior.

Las Exploradoras (27 percent). These Latinas love to shop, browse, touch, feel and live the adventure of shopping. They experiment with new products, use coupons and visit a variety of stores, both Hispanic and American. They're Spanish-dominant and tend to trust Spanish-language advertising.

Las Pragmáticas (23 percent). Latinas who shop with a mission: to get the best value for their money. They visit a limited number of stores, go in and out as quickly as possible and claim to be relatively unaffected by advertising and in-store marketing. Tend to prefer Spanish.

Las Digitalistas (31 percent). This group includes a whopping number of Latinas who actively shop online, plan their purchases and are nobody's fool when it comes to shopping. In fact, they prefer Internet to in-store shopping; use it to help plan shopping trips; and seek recommendations from family and friends. These ladies decide on brands before going to the store. Usually bilingual.

Las Fre$itas (20 percent). Young affluent Latinas who feel they've "arrived," these women are impulse-buyers and happy to spend on whatever they fancy. They index high on use of American supermarkets and feel less comfortable in Hispanic stores. Often buy on impulse and are bilingual or English-dominant.

Behavior varies

Who said that all shoppers are alike? Heritage and acculturation both play an important role in the shopping behavior of Latinas. However, these shoppers browse differently and respond to different stimuli when shopping, and their behavior varies either by level of acculturation, place of origin or a combination of both. Acculturation was measured based on how respondents rated themselves on four criteria: generation/percent of life in the U.S.; language preference; comfort with culture/way of life; and marriage preference (What culture would you like your child to marry into?). Respondents were classified into one of the three acculturation groups based on their point total.

The study notes that Caribbeans are the most advanced in terms of acculturation; 43 percent of them are highly acculturated compared to 31 percent of women of Mexican origin and 20 percent of South/Central Americans. These differences most certainly have an influence on their lifestyles and values.

Compared to differences in their general attitudes and shopping behavior, most of which are tied to acculturation, differences in planning for the shopping trip seem to be more directly related to heritage than level of acculturation, though both appear to be influencing factors. While over 80 percent of all Latinas prepare a list before shopping, we see very dramatic skews by place of origin. Caribbeans are the segment most inclined to comparison shop (77 percent), prepare a shopping list (90 percent) and budget prior to shopping (73 percent), while Mexicans are the group most likely to use store circulars (85 percent).

In contrast, acculturation seems to play a more direct role in influencing Internet purchases, browsing and in-store shopping. Less acculturated shoppers prefer to shop at the store (70 percent) and buy products from their country of origin (60 percent), while the more acculturated feel comfortable shopping on the Internet (79 percent) and buying grocery items on impulse (86 percent). Nearly half of all Latinas, regardless of acculturation or origin, say they love to shop and browse.

As Latinas adjust to the U.S., they tend to feel more at home and are more comfortable with the changes they're experiencing. Seventy-three percent (73 percent) of Latinas surveyed indicated that they feel at home in the U.S. As would be expected, this feeling increases significantly with acculturation, reaching 83 percent among acculturated Latinas. Only 40 percent of all Latinas, and 26 percent of the acculturated, fear that their children will lose their Latino identity and become too American, pointing to the strength of Latino culture in the U.S. today and the bicultural nature of this population.

Overwhelmingly, family is the most important self-defining factor (with 90 percent agreeing); however, only 22 percent accept that a woman's place is in the home. Again, this points to the duality of values that is created with acculturation. Just 10 percent of acculturated Latinas and 36 percent of the non-acculturated believe a woman's place is in the home.

Acculturation also brings the following differences in shopping behavior among Latinas:

  • an increase in the acceptability of buying on credit;
  • more impulse purchases;
  • diminishing influence of store circulars and in-store activities, such as product demonstrations, displays, Spanish-language packaging and in-store TV ads;
  • greater use of the Internet to research and buy products;
  • a decline in the importance of family mealtime and, accordingly, a decrease in meal planning, and;
  • with increased income, decreases in both pre-trip budgeting and the importance of price in selecting products at the store.

Hardcore Digitalistas

It's time to dispel marketers' perception that Latinas are - for the most part - unacculturated, digital illiterates who don't have access to the Internet and who don't react to promotional stimulus online. In fact, 72 percent of all Latinas have a high-speed Internet connection at home and 31 percent are hardcore Digitalistas who prefer to shop online over in-store and/or use the Internet to plan their shopping trips or research products online. These women tend to decide what brands to buy before they go to the store and seek recommendations from family and friends.

Online penetration varies by level of acculturation, of course. While high-speed online usage is more prevalent (85 percent) among more acculturated Latina shoppers, nearly 60 percent of the less acculturated also have high-speed Internet at home. These Digitalistas are predominantly acculturated Latinas who earn above the reported mean salary level of $49,000 and are also slightly younger than the mean age of 35. Split 51/49 percent foreign/U.S. born, 63 percent of Digitalistas were born in Mexico, in line with the total population skew for Mexican-origin Hispanics across the U.S. Interestingly, 61 percent of Digitalistas preferred responding the survey in Spanish. This contrasts greatly to overall availability of relevant Spanish-language content online, a call to action for brands, publishers and the online media community at large.

Digitalistas are also very active in sending and receiving e-mail at home, frequently connecting with family and friends on social networks and they are the most influenced by special offers and coupons received by texting.

These results are highly relevant to marketers who may be seeking ways to connect with a more affluent, younger and digitally-active segment among Latinas.

A substantial effect

About half of all Latinas and 60 percent of the less acculturated say the state of the economy had a substantial effect on their shopping habits. Eighty percent of Latinas say they prepare a shopping list but only half include specific products or brands in their list. For the most part, these women make a general list of items needed such as coffee, cereal or yogurt, rather than a specific list of brands they want to buy, like Folgers, Honey Bunches of Oats or Dannon.

However, this could vary by product category. In-store brand decisions are made more often for clothing than for personal care. Impulse buying occurs often, particularly for groceries and among the more acculturated. However, close to 70 percent of non-acculturated Latinas buy things at the store that they didn't plan to buy. Comparison shopping is also quite common, as over half of Latina women visit a variety of stores; 30 percent do online research; and 70 percent frequently compare prices from store to store before they buy.

Likewise, 80 percent of Latina shoppers buy food or beverage store brands, despite the majority's belief that the quality of many private labels may not match that of national brands. Contrary to popular thought, this suggests that Latinas may be willing to sacrifice premium quality for lower prices, but only as long as the product meets their individual threshold for acceptable quality.

A major component

Implications for marketers abound. Strategically-driven, relevant shopper-marketing targeting Latina shoppers must be a major component of their marketing mix to ensure brand choice at the store level. Brand value perception among this target is also more important than ever.