Total Hispanic consumer expenditures were expected to exceed $815 billion last year, and it seems as though a sizable chunk of that spending will have been allocated to CPG products. In a new study [pdf], IRI reveals that Hispanics spend more than $94 billion annually on CPG products, with particular clout in the Beauty and Home Care categories.
Breaking down Hispanics’ CPG spending by department for the 52-week period ending on April 22, 2018, IRI finds that they spent most on:
- General Food ($25 billion);
- Refrigerated ($13.3 billion); and
- General Merchandise ($11.8 billion).
However, their influence was greatest in a couple of other categories. Hispanics accounted for 15.2% of all Beauty spending over the year-long period (or $7.9 billion), and 14.5% of Home Care spending (or $4.4 billion).
Notably, while they generally account for at least 11% of spending across their top departments, they only comprised 6.2% of spending on Tobacco.
That may be due to a keen focus on health, particularly on the part of Spanish-speaking Hispanics. These consumers are far more likely than non-Hispanics to consider organic foods when eating healthy, though they’re less apt to avoid processed foods. Spanish-speaking Hispanics are also far more likely than non-Hispanics to gravitate towards new food and beverage products that contain vitamins and minerals, are natural or organic, fat-free and dairy-free.
Meanwhile, Hispanics overall are more apt than non-Hispanics to be influenced by natural ingredients when considering new Beauty/Personal Care, Health Care and Food & Beverage products.
Hispanics Are Willing to Try New CPG Products
With the exception of Beverage products, Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to be avid adopters of new CPG products.
For example, 29% of bilingual Hispanics consider themselves avid adopters of new Food products, compared to 23% of non-Hispanics. The gap is much wider in the Beauty and Personal Care category, where Spanish-speaking Hispanics are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanics to be avid adopters of new products (29% and 12%, respectively).
Likewise, Spanish-speaking Hispanics are avid adopters of new Home Care products at a greater rate than non-Hispanics (29% vs. 11%), as they are with Health Care products (20% vs. 9%).
This suggests that CPG brands should target Spanish-speaking Hispanics with their new product launches. But they shouldn’t be the only Hispanic segment worth targeting. Indeed, Bilingual Hispanics account for the largest share (42%) of Hispanic CPG spending, compared to 31% by Spanish-speaking Hispanics and 27% by English speakers.
The full report can be viewed here [pdf].
