Abasto Magazine

Bonus English Juan Tornoe is an expert in marketing and advertising based in Austin, Texas. His blog, juantornoe.blogs.com, has become an indispensable tool to understand the Hispanic market. You can contact him at jgtornoe@hispanictrending.net Mujer Power: Why Latinas are a vital part of the Latino community Juan Tornoe When having a discussion about any purchase decision with my wife I always have the final words, which invariably are “Yes dear”, or one of several variations that I’ve come up with over of the years in order to keep it fresh. Seriously, by 2050 30% of all U.S. women will be of Latino origin. Considering that women have the final say on most buying decisions, even more markedly within the Hispanic community, should be enough to make you look back and reevaluate how you are approaching this very important segment of America’s population. Even though there is a strong stereotype that the Latino culture is very much a patriarchal one, it actually is the other way around. Hispanic women, in a very accommodating way, let their men feel in control and strut their stuff with their fellow male friends. Still, get a group of Latino men in a room without their significant others, and I’ll bet the farm that when you get them comfortable enough they will begin to cough up who really wear the pants at home (and it is NOT them). It is not only at the family level, but in business, where women are the fastest-growing influence within the Hispanic community, the largest minority in the U.S. today. Both at home as well as at work, Latino women are much more in tune than their male counterparts in regards to why they do the things they do; reduced to its core essence, its all about the well being of their family. They will do whatever it takes to make sure that the needs of all those close to their hearts are fully taken care of. This is a powerful fact you should always keep in mind; are you truly, efficiently and effectively fulfilling a want or need for your Latina consumer base? With women —especially with Latinas— you better be ready to say it in a persuasive manner, totally delight them during the actual sales process, and have a product/service that at the very least lives up to the expectations you have created prior to its final purchase. You will be held accountable every step of the way. You better be ready to present some real hard evidence that the product/service you are offering in fact delivers what you promise and then some. Not only that, but at the same time you must create a strong emotional bond. You better delight your Latina customers if you are 50 - Nov/Dic 2010 expecting a fruitful long-term relationship with them. If you manage to with their hearts and minds, and your quality and service are consistently good, you are on the right track to keep them as customers for a long time. You might say, “This isn’t that much different from what I am trying to accomplish on a daily basis with my entire customer base.” What I am telling you is that now you will be held fully accountable by one of the fastest growing segments, in size and influence, not only within the Hispanic community, but in the country as a whole. Either if you are selling Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer, it is imperative to prepare yourself to be dealing more and more with Latinas. I am talking about Hispanic women at every level of acculturation and assimilation; from the newly arrived to a 4th or 5th generation Latina. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, women account for 52% of the adult legal migrant population. Which means that more than half of the immigrants that come through the front door of America are women, who almost immediately are able to begin enjoying the benefits of all that the U.S. has to offer; having the means to purchase many products and services, including yours. These recently arrived women’s profiles have changed over the last quarter century; they now are better educated, older, and less likely to have children; interesting mix as far as buying power is concerned. Since nearly half (47.3%) of Hispanics of working age are women, we will continue to see an increase of Latinas in every segment of the workforce over the next ten years. This, combined with the fact that on average, Hispanic women have more education than Hispanic men, guarantees that more and more decision makers, those who will be giving the OK to buy from you or not, will be Latinas (21.4% of Hispanic women have professional or managerial positions, compared to 14% of Hispanic men). Hispanic women are having a constantly increasing impact on the face of the U.S. economy; ignore it at your own risk.

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