New SymphonyIRI-Synovate report presents new look at Hispanic consumer

CHICAGO — Hispanics will wield $1.2 trillion in buying power in less than a year, the SymphonyIRI Group and partner Synovate noted Wednesday in a new joint market research report.

The two companies created HispanicLink to help retailers and manufacturers more effectively develop marketing and merchandising programs to reach this burgeoning demographic. The analysis included intel on Hispanics’ shopping habits, cooking, eating and drinking behaviors, health-and-wellness practices and their media preferences.

“[Consumer packaged goods] retailers and manufacturers need to have a better understanding of Hispanic consumers to effectively focus their marketing efforts and win at the shelf,” stated Bob Tomei, president of consumer and shopper marketing for SymphonyIRI.

“This is no easy task when considering the complexity of the Hispanic population, so the HispanicLink report breaks down this multifaceted group in terms of acculturation, language preference and attitudes, and examines their shopping patterns and motivations,” Tomei added. “Retailers and manufacturers no longer have to take a one-size-fits-all approach with Hispanic consumers and can leverage these insights to develop targeted marketing programs.”

The report also contained a survey and shopping basket analysis component. The survey portion answered questions about Hispanic preferences to help reveal differences in attitudes and the critical “why behind the buy” among more and less acculturated Hispanic households versus non-Hispanic households. Findings included key facts about Hispanic attitudes, preferences and needs that fuel decisions and impact strategies regarding channel selection, product selection, new product opportunities and co-promotion opportunities.

The shopping basket analysis delivered an in-depth view into how Hispanic households shop various classes of trade. It also ranked which categories most likely are to appear in the cart of the average Hispanic household and compared it to a non-Hispanic household.