DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
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SECTION TWO
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Five Ways CPGs Can Improve their Digital Marketing
To Hispanic Shoppers
By Terry Soto
When it comes to using digital merchandising to attract and serve the growing US Hispanic population, there’s a lot of room for growth. Making the effort could reward consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers with significant sales increases.
Consider the following for how manufacturers can improve their digital merchandising efforts with this important group:
It’s critical for CPG manufacturers to consider Hispanics’ attitudes and behavior when planning and executing a digital strategy.
The business case for reaching Hispanics through digital efforts is compelling. Hispanic grocery shoppers spend an average of $361 on groceries each month, vs. $331 for all shoppers. If manufacturers can connect with this demographic and provide the digital product and shopping experiences Hispanics desire, manufacturers stand to reap the benefits of this higher spending behavior.
By now it should be no secret Hispanics are the most digitally-engaged U.S. consumers bar none. For example:
- Cell phone ownership is more widespread - 86% for Hispanics vs. 84% for non-Hispanics.
- Accessing the internet via mobile devices is more widespread. 76% of Hispanics do it vs. 60% of non-Hispanics.
- Using digital coupons is more widespread. More than eight of ten (84%) of Hispanics have searched for an online coupon based on a recommendation, compared to 71% of consumers overall.
- Social media use is more widespread. Seventy percent of Hispanics have used coupons found on social media sites, compared to 54% of the population at large. Plus, 61% of Hispanics say they have shared coupons via social media, compared to 39% of all consumers in general.
- Online shopping in general is more widespread. Hispanics’ share of visits to the top 500 retail websites was 21% higher than the online population in general.
- Interest in receiving ads on a smartphone is higher. Hispanics are more than twice as likely to say they are interested in receiving ads on their phone than non-Hispanics.
- Hispanics use the mobile offers they received. Nearly six of ten (58%) are more likely to purchase products they see advertised on their phone, and 13% are more likely to say they use their phone while shopping to find local deals.
Digital apps are “hot” among Hispanic shoppers.
Hispanics lead shoppers overall on usage of just about every digital grocery shopping tool presented in a recent study by the Acosta Sales and Marketing and Univision report, “The Why Behind The Buy: Insights Into the Hispanic Grocery Buying Experience,” except product, store, or recipe and meal planning websites.
Because Hispanics use more shopping apps and list functions on mobile devices, with respective usage rates 60% and 56% higher than for all shoppers, manufacturers can increase engagement with their brands by ensuring relevance of product representation vis-à-vis Hispanics’ food culture and heritage. It’s as simple as ensuring appropriate appetite appeal images, recipes and meal planning messaging.
Hispanic shoppers engage with brands on social media and digital differently compared to shoppers in general.
CPG manufacturers need a different approach and emphasis when designing a digital strategy for Hispanic shoppers. For instance, using digital media to reinforce brand imagery and to educate Hispanic shoppers about your brand and the brand’s lifestyle is an effective way to connect with Hispanic shoppers. Strategies should reinforce the more emotive components of the brand in addition to pragmatic deals and special coupons.
Hispanics cite more emotional reasons for why they follow brands on social media compared to non-Hispanic shoppers. For instance, according to the Acosta and Univision report, connecting with brands on Facebook plays a more significant role for U.S. Hispanics than the total U.S. population. Hispanics are more likely to say it’s important to follow brands that “support similar causes,” “help tell a story of what products I like,” or furnish a “way to connect with others,” whereas overall U.S. shoppers’ motivations are more financial and pragmatic. In general, U.S. shoppers say they engage with Facebook brand pages primarily to get coupons and special offers.
What questions should a CPG manufacturer ask before developing a digital strategy for communicating and serving Hispanic shoppers?
When planning or refining a digital strategy that includes Hispanics, CPGs should ask many of the same questions they ask when planning any consumer targeted effort, including:
- 1. What is the profile of digital consumer targets?
- 2. Which Hispanic segments align with this profile? In other words, what portion of the Hispanic market looks and behaves like overall digital consumer targets?
- 3. What language does your target speak?
- 4. Are they U.S. born or foreign born or both?
- 5. How does your Hispanic digital consumer differ overall from your target consumer? (What do they buy? what sites do they visit? where do they download coupons and on what devices? what types of coupons do they redeem?)
- 6. What do Hispanic targets’ shopping, savings and coupon conversations sound like on social media?
- 7. Which apps are your Hispanic targets using and what functionalities do they like/use?
Manufacturers can take steps to ready themselves to attract Hispanic consumers successfully.
CPG brands already invest considerable resources to court, educate and build relationships with their target consumer on digital and social media, namely Facebook - but not in ways that are particularly relevant to their Hispanic targets. Most CPG manufacturers have not taken steps to make the digital experience relevant to their Hispanic targets.
It’s not difficult, but it does require doing the same homework necessary as when preparing to target any other consumer segment. Think about it. The beauty of Hispanic shoppers is they are already huge digital and mobile users; they’re just waiting for compelling content. CPGs who are able to use research and syndicated resources to understand their Hispanic targets’ buying behavior, tailor offers to them, and let them know their products are on sale and where they can be purchased have tremendous sales and loyalty lifts ahead of them.
Facebook has already become the go-to community for Hispanics to find out about what’s new, to find out what friends and family think about it, to find deals, and to share all these findings with family and friends. Since Hispanics already find this social media platform a comfortable and trustworthy space, manufacturers are in a great position to optimize their Facebook pages to increase relevancy among this consumer.
To take advantage of all of these opportunities, CPGs should ask how they can create the internal capabilities to seamlessly target Hispanics through digital strategies:
- Enhance organizational teams with bilingual and bicultural social media talent to communicate with Hispanics on social media based on the customers’ language and conversation style.
- Ensure IT and predictive analytics are set up to recognize Hispanic community preferences, and are capable of personalizing relevant messages, content and ads about products, brands and deals.
- Enhance analytics teams with talent who understands how to analyze and decipher what is important to Hispanic shoppers.
- Ensure websites, social media sites, loyalty apps and programs highlight the higher order benefits, availability and location of key brands in stores.
Terry Soto is President and CEO of About Marketing Solutions, a Burbank, Calif.- based strategy consulting firm specializing in helping clients to dramatically improve overall business performance by optimizing their strategies to also succeed in today’s diverse U.S. market. She can be reached at terrysoto@aboutmarketingsolutions.com
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SECTION THREE
