The quantitative phase of the Latina Shopper Study has been completed and results are out! The study, the first of its kind ever conducted among Latina women in the U.S., was fielded nationally among 1200 women representative of the total female U.S. Hispanic population to help marketers better understand the dynamics of shopping behavior among this important segment of the U.S. Hispanic population. Latina women are the decision makers and influencers of over 80% of all purchases made in U.S. Hispanic households. This makes these women a highly powerful group as they harness the $1.4 Trillion buying power in these households by 2013. The Study was conducted thanks to the support and sponsorship of various top marketers, including Pepsico, Sara Lee and VISA.
“One of the primary goals of the Latina Shopper Study was to develop a segmentation profile of Latina women on the basis of their shopping behavior patterns so that we may improve the targeting criteria that will allow marketers to be more relevant in their efforts to influence purchase. We’re very happy with the results because through cross-analysis of all the data, we’ve validated four distinct female shopper archetypes which allow us to view these women in a new light and help marketers develop more relevant shopper marketing strategies”, said Jackie Bird, CEO of Redbean Society in New York, the only marketing communications company that’s specialized in targeting Latina women.
David Morse, CEO and President of New American Dimensions, the renowned research firm in California, added: “We’ve done tons of research in the grocery and retail environment for years. We’re very excited about the Latina Shopper Study because it has revealed that Latina women are rapidly evolving into a highly multi-faceted group across many shopper dimensions; they’ve become more pragmatic in their decision-making process and are clearly savvier than we’ve seen in the past studies. Brand marketers must pay close attention to these results as they strategize to increase their share of purchases at the store level”.
The 2010 Latina Shopper Study identified four segments that were differentiated in terms of their attitudes, values, demographics, and shopping behavior.
1. “Las Exploradoras” (27%): 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.
2. “Las Pragmáticas” (23%): 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.
3. “Las Digitalistas” (31%): 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.
4. “Las Fre$itas” (20%): Young affluent Latinas who feel they’ve “arrived”, these women are impulse-buyers and happy to spend in 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.
“We are currently conducting the second phase of the study, a series of 12 focus group interviews, four each in three of the key Hispanic markets, Los Angeles, Houston and New York, in which we are doing a deeper dive into these shopper archetypes that will allow us to obtain more depth into the shopping behaviors identified in the quantitative phase”, added Morse.
Bird concluded, “This qualitative phase will add context to the data so that moving forward into 2011, we can add consumer insights and planning to the shopper marketing development process which for years has been highly executional in nature.”
For more details about the Latina Shopper Study, you can contact Jackie Bird, CEO of Redbean Society or David Morse, CEO and President of New American Dimensions.
