Over the past decade the food buying habits of Hispanics in the United States have begun to mirror those of American consumers as a whole, and marketers must be aware of various emerging trends if they seek to effectively reach the increasingly influential Latino consumer segment. This was among a number of conclusions published in Hispanic Food Shoppers in the US, a report issued recently by Packaged Facts.
The Rockville, Maryland-based market intelligence company forecasts that expenditures by Hispanic food shoppers will climb to $86 billion by 2018. This represents cumulative growth of more than 28% and a compound annual growth rate of over 5%.
“It’s become evident that Hispanic consumers are spending a significantly higher portion of their food budgets on packaged foods such as processed vegetables, as well as on frozen and canned meals,” said David Sprinkle, research director. “At the same time, Latino spending on fresh produce and meats has declined in an almost archetypal American fashion.”
Among other findings in the 119-page report, which sells for $3,500:
- Hispanic food shoppers account for roughly a quarter of all food shoppers with children at home, and about a quarter of those with children under the age of six.
- Compared to food buyers on average, Hispanics are significantly more likely to spend a weekly average of $150 or more on groceries.
- Hispanic consumers are significantly more likely than consumers on average to prefer to buy purchase brand name groceries.
There are wide differences in the food preferences of various national origin groups of Hispanic food shoppers. Some reflect local US eating habits. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, for example, are concentrated in the New York metro area and are more likely to eat bagels.
Other differences reflect acculturation factors. For example, Puerto Ricans have a long history on the US mainland and are more likely than other Latino groups to reflect the habits of food shoppers as a whole. Still other variations are more straightforwardly related to national and regional origins, including the obvious fact that authentic Mexican foods and ingredients are most likely to be consumed by Latinos whose heritage is from Mexico or Central America.
While there can be significant differences in food preferences within the Hispanic population, a gap between the purchasing patterns of Hispanic and all food shoppers on average also persists. Hispanic food buyers have been devoting an increasing percentage of their food dollars to the center of the store, but there are a wide variety of products that Latinos (with the exception of Puerto Ricans and in a few cases Mexicans) choose not to purchase. These include traditional mainstream American foods such as peanut butter, pretzels and pickles.
And although the Spanish language plays a central role in the broader Hispanic experience in the United States, data in the report suggest that the direct impact of in-language marketing efforts on Hispanic food shoppers is lessening. Only 36% remember more about or pay more attention to products and services that are advertised in Spanish. Nevertheless, Spanish-language advertising and labeling is still worth the investment as a corporate image-building effort, even with highly acculturated Hispanic food shoppers.
Looking ahead, Packaged Facts expects that the continuing robust growth in the Hispanic population, an improving economy, an overall confidence about the future demonstrated by Hispanic consumers, and improved marketing and merchandising by food marketers and retailers will contribute to a more vigorous growth rate in Hispanic food expenditures in grocery and other food stores than was seen in the last five years. As US-born Hispanics account for an increasing share of the ethnic group’s population, spending by Hispanic consumer units on processed foods and packaged goods in the center of the store is expected to increase at an even faster rate than overall food expenditures.
Consumer data in the report come from several sources. These include Packaged Facts National Online Consumer Surveys conducted in January and February and April and May of 2014, which reflect a panel of 2,000 US adults (ages 18 and above) that is balanced to the national population on the primary demographic measures of gender, age bracket, race/ethnicity, geographic region, marital status, presence or absence of children in the household and household income.
