Researchers dig deeper into new product pacesetters.
The Hispanic community in America is the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation and spends more than $94.7 billion on consumer packaged goods annually.
IRI, the Chicago-based marketing research firm, is diving deeper into last year’s most successful CPG launches to better understand Hispanics and product purchasing trends.
Recent data from the IRI Consumer and Shopper Insights Advantage™/Hispanic Specialty Panel, indicates CPG marketers have a great opportunity to capture more shopping dollars from Hispanic consumers, especially if they understand some key nuances in their attitudes and preferences regarding new products, compared to those of the general consumer population.
“By 2020, Hispanics will account for over half of the population growth in the United States, and their spending power will also increase significantly,” said Susan Viamari, vice president of thought leadership for IRI. “Unfortunately, most marketers don’t have easy access to detailed information on what Hispanic shoppers are buying, including in key CPG categories. This significantly limits new growth opportunities for brands, so we examined what Hispanics are buying, and even why they are buying products, to help marketers engage with these very important consumers.”
While Hispanic buying power is concentrated in select markets, including New Mexico, Texas, California, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, New Jersey, New York and Illinois, their interest in new products is spread across retail departments.
MIXED MARKET
The mix of healthy and indulgent products found in the top-10 ranking truly reflects Hispanics’ attitudes toward eating. For instance, 36% of Hispanics say they eat healthy half of the time and eat whatever they want the other half. An additional 36% of Hispanic consumers say they eat healthy 80% of the time and allow for indulgences 20% of the time. So, moderation is the key for most Hispanics.
Forty percent of Pacesetter brands that hit the mark with Hispanics tout “more natural,” “organic,” “herbal,” or “holistic” attributes, which also helped shape the top-10 non-food ranking.
“Hispanics are a highly diverse group, based on factors such as age, income, media preferences and language preference — English-preferred, bilingual or Spanish-preferred,” said Staci Covkin, principal of Consumer and Shopper Marketing for IRI. “Attracting Hispanics requires an understanding of these language preferences, along with their digital and social preferences, to quickly see a huge opportunity for CPG across food, beauty, home and health care brands. Aligning a new product launch with the needs of Hispanic shoppers is rapidly becoming a critical success factor for sustained CPG and retail growth, so improved insights and activation of these shoppers can result in significant sales and market share uplift.”
