Fashion, Style, and Culture: The Case of US Latinos

Retailers often talk about how Hispanics are different in their approach to dress, clothing, and fashion. There has been coverage in the press about how some shopping centers are morphing themselves into Latino shopping centers to better serve their local communities and stay in business.

From casual observation I know that Hispanics dress up to go out on the weekends and kids are very well dressed to go to church and other activities, even when going on airplanes. The attention to dress and detail to style is apparent in a great number of cases. Many Latinos spend much of their leisure time in stores and malls enjoying their free time with their families and becoming informed about fashion and style. I have observed the more sensual approach to dressing by both Hispanic men and women. What are the attitudes that underlie this attention to style and fashion?

To answer the above question, I used the data from the Experian Marketing Services Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study, that was collected between January 30, 2012 and March 13, 2013. The chart below shows differences in “any agree” (agree a lot plus agree a little) with the attitudinal statements about style and fashion with which Latinos were more likely to agree:

As observed above, Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to be feel they are opinion leaders about clothes and fashion. They also are more likely to trust top designers and to trade up to newer designs faster than non-Hispanics.

Latinos are more likely to be influenced by fashion magazines and most importantly, Latinos enjoy more the activity of shopping for clothes. And Hispanics are also more experimental in the approaches to clothing and style.

What does these trends tell us? I think that Latinos are now influencers in fashion that need to be carefully watched as their tastes and preferences evolve. Marketers need to be pay attention to these trendsetters as their numbers and influence increases in the US.

Further, the eagerness these Hispanic consumers show to be in style, corroborates that merchandising for them is not necessarily the same as what is traditionally done for the rest of the population. Interestingly, the contrast of the attitudes on which non-Hispanics exceed Hispanics are interesting as documented in the chart below:

As can be seen non-Hispanics are the ones who are more likely to express conservative style and clothing attitudes. This trend adds evidence to the observation that Latinos are more likely to lead in dress, fashion, and style.  In terms of profitability and trend making marketers need to be be aware of the differences that Latinos represent for the future of their brands and retailing activities.

Clearly, examining the trends in the charts above suggests that conservatism is in general a more pervasive trends that leadership and innovativeness.  The percentages of conservative attitudes are higher. Still, where Hispanics excel is in having larger minorities that express an eagerness to change and innovate regarding style.

What can marketers do? Include more Latinos/Latinas in their approaches to marketing, regardless of whether or not their approach is a “Total Market” or more targeted approach. The voice of Hispanics needs to be over-represented in strategies that are forward looking. Further, Latinos need to be considered as opinion leaders and co-opted to represent your brands as they are more likely to genuinely embrace innovation and change.

The moral of the story is that there is no general market and that Latinos are shaping marketing futures.

The data used here is from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study of adults 18+ -and was collected from January 30, 2012 to March 13,, 2013. The sample of Hispanics contains 7,982 individuals and the non-Hispanic sample has 16,870 people.

The Juice Mystique: Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Consumption of Orange Juice Brands and Drinks

I have spent quite a few years asking consumers about their consumption of orange juice and juice drinks. In visiting stores that cater to Latinos in Texas and California I tend to see large displays of shelf stable drink products like Tampico and Sunny Delight. Over the years I have heard Hispanic consumers state that these products have high percentages of juice in them, as high as 80% and sometimes even higher. Which is surprising because the actual juice content is low.  I was not sure about the extent to which the consumption of these juice beverages was higher or lower than popular orange juice brands.

To obtain a quantitative picture I examined data from the Experian Marketing Services Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study that was collected in the twelve months ending on November 30, 2012.  The results I obtained provide an interesting perspective on the use of these products according to the chart below.

First I need to clarify I decided to compare Tampico and Sunny Delight with Minute Maid and Tropicana because these are large orange juice brands, and also included Jumex because the brand has its origin in Mexico and is well known by Latinos of Mexican origin.

The chart shows that even though Tampico and Sunny Delight are used by Hispanics to a larger extent than by other consumers, the prevalence of the use of those brands is relatively low when compared with major US brands like Minute Maid and Tropicana. Jumex orange juice is used at about the same rate as the Tampico and Sunny Delight beverages. It is salient to notice that Tampico and Jumex have a very prevalent Latino constituency. That may be explained by the affinity of the Tampico brand, since Tampico is a port in Mexico, and by the heritage of Jumex whose name comes from the roots “jugos” juice, and “mexicanos” Mexican.

Interestingly, Hispanics over-index non-Hispanics in the use of all the brands. I was expecting that they would over-index more markedly in their use of the less expensive beverages but that is not the case. Given their family orientation and their larger household size, Latinos consume more of these beverages regardless of their pricing or quality. Many have argued that Hispanics are likely to purchase their preferred brands or more expensive brands for their family even if their incomes are lower. These findings may provide a partial indication of that possibility.

Out of curiosity I decided to check on income levels by use of these brands to ascertain whether or not income is associated with their use, for Hispanics and non-Hispanics. The charts below show the results.

As can be seen there is a tendency for those with lower incomes to be more likely to use Tampico and Sunny Delight, as well as Jumex orange juice regardless of their Latino heritage. And in the case of Minute Maid and Tropicana the difference by income levels is small but somewhat slanted towards higher incomes, particularly in the case of Tropicana. What seems outstanding (thanks William Biggs) is that those in the lower income categories use the premium OJ brands much more, in general, than they use the lower priced products. It can be concluded then that lower income is somewhat of a driver in the use of fruit beverages like Tampico, Sunny Delight, and Jumex OJ, but marginally the opposite in the use  of major brand orange juices. Lower price points are more appealing to some of those with lower incomes, and perhaps these consumers justify their choices by attributing higher juice content to beverages that do not have such.

It stands out that even those with lower incomes are more likely to consume premium brand orange juice, than the less expensive counterparts. Thus the selectivity of diluted drinks and less expensive brands may be particular to some who knowingly find them appealing, or who do not know what the nature of the product is.

Clearly, if Latino consumers and non-Latino consumers of lower incomes and large families see a large container of an orange drink and believe it contains a large amount of juice and then compare the price with actual 100% juice products, they are likely to opt for the larger and less expensive product. But what if they compared labels carefully?

In a competitive market there is room for juice brands to more directly  and aggressively compete with products that have a small percentage of juice content by educating consumers as to what the differences are. Clearly, the less expensive products also have some benefits as they are enriched with vitamins.  If a brand has a true advantage it should exploit it to the benefit of their bottom line and their consumer base.

At any rate, there is ample room for marketers to better understand the consumer behavior of Latinos to more successfully market to and educate them. Latinos generally want the best for their families, and highlighting product differences for them may be helpful and also profitable.

The data used here is from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study of adults 18+  and was collected from October 24, 2011 to November 30, 2012. The sample of Hispanics contains 8,521 individuals and the non-Hispanic sample has 17,043 people.

Brands Make a Difference: Latinos Over Index in the Hair Styling Product Category

I have been conducting ethnographic interviews with Hispanics in the last several months and have visited many homes and talked to many Latino women. I have looked at their bathrooms and bedrooms and have seen many of the products these families use for styling their hair. I got the impression they are very much into the hair style product category, but qualitative observations can only go so far in terms of making generalizations about the population.  

To check my impressions I looked at data from the Experian Marketing Services Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study that was collected in the twelve months ending on November 30, 2012, and confirmed that my impressions were on the right track.

As can be seen in the chart below, 43% of Latinos use hair styling products while only 34% of non-Hispanics use them.

Clearly, there are several reasons why this may be the case, including the fact that Latino adults have a median age that is about 10 years younger than the overall population. Also, we have discovered over the years that Latinos enjoy being well groomed in their everyday life. Further, their grooming customs come from their countries of origin where cultural patterns are strongly ingrained. Now, are all hair styling products equally used? As can be seen below there are products that are more heavily used than others.

Gel and mousse are by far the most popular hair styling products among Hispanics, and in general their use is in line with the overall population pattern of usage. Nevertheless, Latinos over-index quite dramatically in the both categories. But what brands are more popular? As can be seen in the chart below, consumers are quite divided among the different brands they use most often and the chart only includes the brands that have more than 1% usage among adult Hispanics. Still each for each of the top brands, Latinos exceed their non Latino counterparts. There are cases in which usage is triple among Hispanics, such as in the case of Alberto V05, and double such as in the case of Tresemme, or substantially higher like in the case of Suave.

The lesson I learn is that some of these brands may capitalize on making a serious effort to further their share among Hispanics. Particularly promising are brands with Latin American heritage and with names that are culturally compatible, like Tresemme, Alberto VO5, Suave, and Pantene.  In the age of social media, and knowing that Hispanics are particularly keen in the use of this technology, reaching out to Latinos with brand experiences that are appealing, informative, and seductive can render a large return on relatively modest investments.

Large media, like television, can also make a major difference with advertising  and branded entertainment. Ultimately any brand that makes a serious effort can find creative ways to connect culturally, for example, by attaching symbolic handles to their brands that Latinos can relate to.

The data used here is from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study of adults 18+  and was collected from October 24, 2011 to November 30, 2012. The sample of Hispanics contains 8,521 individuals and the non-Hispanic sample has 17,043 people.

Language Preference for Television Watching by Latinos of Different Socioeconomic Levels

It has been of interest to me to explore how socioeconomic level relates to different consumer and media behaviors of Latinos in the United States. As media outlets become more abundant and as Latino growth shifts to births as opposed to sheer immigration, it is relevant to learn more about how to target Hispanics of different socioeconomic levels. In this particular instance, I am exploring the television watching behavior of Latinos according to their language of preference depending on their socioeconomic level.

Using data from the Experian Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study that was collected in the twelve months ending on August 31, 2012, I created crosstabulations of the TGI Socio Economic Scale in the Simmons database by preference to watch television “Only in English,” “Mostly in English but Some in Spanish,” “Mostly in Spanish but Some in English,” and “Only in Spanish.” The television language preference variable in the analysis combined those who watch “Only in English” and “ Mostly in English but Some in Spanish” in one group, and those who watch in “Only in Spanish” and “Mostly in Spanish but Some in English” in another group.   Respondents stated their preference when reacting to the statement “When you watch television do you prefer to watch television programs...” The TGI Socio Economic Scale is a composite of education, ownership of selected household durables, mobile phone ownership, credit card ownership, usage of Internet and air travel. The scale results in four levels of socioeconomic standing: The top 10% of the population, the next 20% of the population, the next 30% of the population, and finally the remaining 40%.

The following line chart illustrates the trends uncovered:



As can be observed, the lowest socioeconomic level of Latinos is more likely than anyone else to prefer watching television in Spanish, although a substantive percentage of them also indicate preferring only English or mostly English television exposure. The percentages of Hispanics at this lowest level are more equally divided among language preferences than for any other socioeconomic level. Those in Level 3 are more polarized than the lowest level as their percentages are more divided between the two languages. The polarization increases at Levels 1 and 2 as they are more dramatically divided and in the large majority they prefer television exposure in the English language.

Overall, there is a tendency for those better educated and more affluent to prefer television in the English language and for those who are in the lower levels to be more oriented to the Spanish language. It is also likely that those in the higher socioeconomic levels are more acculturated into the US. The tendencies are almost linear and monotonic.

These trends point to the dynamics of the Latino market and its complexity.  While the preference to watch programming in the Spanish language continues to be important for a substantive portion of the Latino population, it is not a uniform tendency.  This is clearly due to the fact that with so many channels in English, Latinos simply find more offerings in English than in Spanish.  It is likely that the diversity of content in English drives some of these trends.  Those more affluent can be expected to have more choices of channels for the enjoyment of television programming and that may explain some of these preferences. Also, at the lower levels there are those who have been born in the United States that share their socioeconomic level with newer immigrants.  That makes for an interesting mix of acculturation stages that affect television language preferences.

Further, as Latinos become more able to appreciate content in English, their content horizons seem to expand. Socioeconomic status and bilingualism and English fluency are related.

Marketers can take from these findings important lessons and cautions:

1. Media planning is not straightforward.  Socioeconomic level plays a role and thus different types of products may do better on English language television platforms, and others on Spanish.

2. A mix of language television platforms may be appropriate for many advertising campaigns as television language preferences, particularly at Levels 3 and 4, are more divided. They represent 70% of the Latino population.

3. Language preference for television watching may not be indicative of assimilation but of content availability and content preferences.  Thus cultural insights should likely drive marketing and advertising campaigns.

This data confirms the diversity and complexity of the Latino market and the importance of sophisticated media planning efforts.

The data used here is from the Experian Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study and was collected from August 1, 2011 to August 31, 2012. The sample contained 8120 Latinos.