Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a four-part series that provides companies with powerful insights and smart ways to engage online consumers in new markets during the holiday shopping season. Read part one here. Read part three here. Read part four here.
We’re highlighting holiday shopping in this post, but make sure to download the free accompanying U.S. Hispanics: Market Insights and Campaign Opportunities report via the sidebar below. This document reveals additional noteworthy holidays, and ways to best serve Hispanics throughout 2017!
Smart retailers and other companies are already planning their Holiday 2016 marketing and promotional campaigns for the U.S. market. Naturally, their goal is to capture customers' imagination and attention, and supercharge sales.
But many of these businesses are overlooking U.S. Hispanics—a compelling, thriving and growing market within the U.S. Our analysis suggests these companies are leaving money on the table by not serving these increasingly affluent consumers, especially during the lucrative 2016 Holiday shopping season.
A Growing and Influential Market
Hispanics are growing in influence within the U.S., both culturally and economically. They currently represent nearly 20% of the U.S. population; this will reach 33% by 2060. Next year, the market's buying power will be at least $1.7 trillion.
English fluency is naturally increasing within this market, as more Hispanics are born and raised in the States. However, Spanish is still widely spoken in Hispanic homes and communities. Over 75% of Hispanics speak Spanish at home. Thirty-five percent prefer to read content mostly or all in Spanish.
To maximize success while serving these customers, companies must engage them in ways that speaks to them, both linguistically and culturally.
Firstly, this blog post should help your company better-connect with Hispanics during the Holiday 2016 season. We've provide some interesting insights into U.S. Hispanic shopping behavior, and how you can leverage them.
In addition, we’re providing a free U.S. Hispanics: Market Insights and Campaign Opportunities report, which spotlights more than a dozen noteworthy holidays and days in 2017 where your company can savvily serve Hispanics in creative, authentic ways.
Download the free report via the sidebar.
Now, let’s bring our attention back to Holiday 2016, and how companies can guide their tactical and strategic marketing efforts to woo U.S. Hispanics in the weeks ahead.
Veterans Day (Nov. 11)
Despite its somber roots, Veterans Day is a well-known holiday for retail discounts. Many Americans have the day off from work, and savvy businesses lure shoppers into stores (and online) with bargains. Since Black Friday is just right around the corner, retailers rarely slash prices on big-ticket items during Veterans Day sales.
U.S. Hispanics, like most folks, love a good bargain any time of year. Interestingly, we've found Veterans Day discounts on fashion and accessories are particularly resonant among Hispanics.
One of our fashion retail clients (which serves Hispanics with a Spanish-language website) generated incredible sales results last year. It made a concerted effort to promote its Veterans Day discounts to Hispanic shoppers, and generated 100% more revenue in 2015 than the year before.
Black Friday (Nov. 25)
Black Friday, that all-American retail sales event that's slowly gaining popularity throughout the world, has been eagerly embraced by U.S. Hispanics. But to truly maximize the impact of Black Friday sales among Hispanics, companies must offer resonant Spanish-language campaigns and marketing materials. Sadly, our research suggests companies currently serving Hispanics with Spanish-language websites aren't generating the powerful Black Friday sales results they might otherwise achieve. They're simply not giving the market the attention it deserves.
One MotionPoint that recently did it right saw a 93% increase in revenue on Black Friday compared to the day before. This represented a 99% revenue increase from the previous year's Black Friday.
Considering this is the biggest shopping day of the year—we’ve seen companies generate 5% of their total yearly Spanish-site revenue on this day—2016 should be the year brands stop neglecting their Hispanic consumers.
Cyber Monday (Nov. 28)
Cyber Monday is e-commerce's answer to Black Friday. Such "cyber" sales have become so popular, most retailers extend the deals for an entire week. New promotions are added daily, or product prices gradually decrease over time.
While not as huge as Black Friday, this is still another shopping holiday retailers absolutely can’t miss—particularly when serving Hispanics. Last year, we saw brands’ Cyber Monday Spanish campaigns generate increases in revenue between 30% and 98%, compared to the day before. Learn more about how retailers are moving the sales needle among U.S. Hispanics by downloading our free U.S. Hispanics: Market Insights and Campaign Opportunities report via the sidebar.
Christmas
In many ways, U.S. Hispanic shopping habits are similar to those of non-Hispanics. However, the market exhibits unique behaviors and tendencies that companies leverage during the Holiday 2016 shopping season.
For instance: If your company operates brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., make sure your Spanish site has an easy-to-find "Find a Store" call to action. One important cultural trait of Hispanics is that they are family-oriented, and that means Christmas shopping is often a family event-so ensuring everyone can find your local store becomes especially important.
Our research indicates the in-store experience is especially critical for Hispanics. They value the importance of seeing, touching, and trying out items before making a purchase. Even if they ultimately buy online, stores that make it as convenient as possible for shoppers to browse, with their families in tow, often creates a more satisfying shopping experience-and higher conversions.
Are you a "pure play" e-retailer? No problem. Just be sure your online Spanish-language experience is optimized for mobile. U.S. Hispanics are power users of mobile devices, and prefer using their smartphones to surf websites over desktop PCs. (Learn more valuable insights about Hispanics' preference for mobile in our free report.)
Also as a pure-play e-retailer, don't forget to run promotions and offer free or discounted shipping. This will help you compete with brick-and-mortar stores, and set you apart from other e-commerce sites. Hispanics, like all other consumers, love free shipping.
New Year’s
For most American consumers, the holiday good times come to a close on New Year's Day. Not so for many U.S. Hispanics. For this market, the party's still going strong-and that means for holiday-related purchases, too.
Why? It's all about Three Kings' Day, which you'll learn about in the next section. Rest assured, however, that companies that serve Hispanics can often count on more holiday-related conversions and revenue after Christmas.
When we recently compared 2015 sales from the week before Christmas to the week after Christmas, the trend became clear. MotionPoint client saw a 20% increase in revenue during the week after Christmas. During the same period, another company saw Average Order Values double.
Three Kings’ Day (Jan. 6)
If you read our Holiday 2016 article on Spain, you might recognize this holiday and for good reason. Three Kings’ Day, also known as Epiphany, is essentially a “second Christmas” in many Spanish-speaking countries. It’s not a widely-known holiday in the U.S., but more than half of Hispanics say they celebrate the holiday, and about 40% say they buy gifts for Three Kings’ Day.
Note the date of Three Kings Day—January 6. If your company concludes its holiday campaigns at Christmas time, it’ll miss out on an additional 10 days of buying opportunity among U.S. Hispanics.
Instead, extend sales to maximize your revenue potential-and to show your Hispanic customers that you recognize their traditions, and are willing to meet their needs. Ongoing promotions and free shipping deals can help ensure Hispanics get their gifts in time for January 6 … and it'll help them remember you're a company that has their unique interests in mind.
Wrapping Up
We hope you've found this post to be a helpful examination into how to engage U.S. Hispanics with authentic in-language, in-market campaigns. But this post scrapes the surface of MotionPoint's familiarity with noteworthy Hispanic holidays and buying habits.
Want to learn more? Download the free U.S. Hispanics: Market Insights and Campaign Opportunities report via the sidebar above. You’ll receive a document packed with important 2017 holidays and special days for Hispanics, along with tips on how to engage them online.
And be sure to contact us with further questions about the U.S. Hispanic market, or other global markets your business way want to serve. We can help you identify ways to communicate effectively, and authentically, with new customers around the world.
Last updated on October 31, 2016