Hispanics Spend Trillions of Dollars In the U.S. Something Is Different This Year.

Yahoo

19-05-2025

America's Hispanic community has trillions of dollars in buying power. The way they wield it appears to be changing in 2025.
Economic uncertainty and inflation have broadly weighed on American consumers, but there are signs that additional pressure on Hispanics, who make up roughly a fifth of the population, is further changing their spending habits.
Some retailers are seeing substantially less in-store shopping by Hispanic customers, which experts attribute in part to concern about immigration enforcement that is making them hesitant to participate in public life and cautious about spending. Boycotts of some companies may also be denting sales.
A new report from market research and consulting firm Kantar, developed partly in response to inquiries from a large American retailer, found that first-quarter in-store shopping rates among Hispanic shoppers fell further year-over-year than among non-Hispanics.
Supermarkets saw their Hispanic in-store shopping rates fall more than 11%, the largest pullback, followed by those seen by dollar stores, convenience stores, mass merchandisers and drugstores. Top retailers saw sizable retreats, according to Kantar, including Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Walgreens (WBA), Home Depot (HD) and Dollar Tree (DLTR). (Most of the companies in this story did not respond to Investopedia's requests for comment in time for publication. Target declined to comment, citing its upcoming earnings report.)
This happened even as Kantar's research found that Hispanics were generally in good financial shape, reporting higher savings, more discretionary income, and fewer concerns about the cost of essentials than the population as a whole.
As Hispanic shoppers eschew store visits, more are using online purchasing and pickup options and home delivery for convenience and a sense of safety, the report said.
Some product categories are taking a hit, according to Kantar's report, with clothing and non-food household items like haircare and cleaning products seeing the largest year-over-year declines in first-quarter purchase frequency by Hispanic shoppers.
Frozen foods, sweet and salty snacks, dairy products, canned goods, over-the-counter medicines, skincare, paper products and cosmetics have also experienced deep drops in frequency over the same period. All told, said retail expert Walter Holbrooke, this poses a problem for companies because shoppers tend to skip unplanned purchases when they're not entering stores themselves.
'This is where the biggest risk is for manufacturers that play in these categories,' said Julie Craig, Kantar's vice president of shopper insights, who believes retailers and manufacturers may need to work together to convince shoppers that stores are safe spaces.
'They are seeing a lot of declines across the board in purchases in these categories,' she said. 'It should be a little bit of a wake-up call.'
Hispanics are a large and growing shopper demographic for retailers and consumer-packaged goods companies, representing an estimated $2.4 trillion in buying power, according to consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ.
The group encompasses households with a range of incomes and ethnicities; Brands are especially keen to establish relationships with the 35% of Hispanic consumers who are under 21 and will eventually earn and spend more, NielsenIQ said.
Hispanic consumers can have an outsized impact on how some categories fare, NielsenIQ said. Their spending on consumer packaged goods grew 4.8% year-over-year, compared to the national growth rate of 3.6%, according to a NielsenIQ report published in September.
This year's pullback has hit non-alcoholic drink makers, executives from Monster Beverage (MNST), Coca-Cola (KO) and Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) acknowledged in recent months, and restaurants such as El Pollo Loco (LOCO) and Wingstop (WING), the chains' leaders have said. Retailers like Shoe Carnival (SCVL) and Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO) are watching for shifts in Hispanic customers' behavior, executives said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), the maker of Budweiser and Michelob beers, said in February that it saw business lagging in zip codes with large Hispanic populations. Boston Beer (SAM), the producer of Samuel Adams and Angry Orchard, said in April that the industry has been weighed down by Hispanic consumers 'just not going out as much.'
Hispanic consumers' pullback 'feels really recessionary in parts of the U.S. market,' said George Weston, chief executive of grocery supplier Associated British Foods, in April.
'Families are being wise,' said Eric Rodriquez, senior vice president of policy and advocacy with civil rights and advocacy organization UnidosUS. 'If they are going to lose a breadwinner tomorrow, they need the resources to do something about that. The future is so uncertain for many Latino families.'
Ideological factors may also be affecting Hispanics' spending habits. A boycott of Target spurred by its decision to move away from some diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives contributed to recent traffic declines among Black and Hispanic households, according to the market research firm Numerator.
Campaigns urging people to spend money with businesses owned by people of color have caught on in affluent and working class Hispanic communities, said Rudy Morales, vice president of government affairs for the Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce, which is active in the Coachella Valley and Los Angeles area.
Hispanics are 'more likely to shop according to their values and vote with their dollar,' said Erica Smith, one of the authors of Kantar's report.
These matters are of interest to investors, too. Wall Street analysts seeking to develop their models of company performance have frequently asked executives about their Hispanic customers during recent conference calls, with some companies offering detailed observations and reporting plans to conduct their own studies.
'Many of my covered companies have commented on weaknesses among Hispanic consumers as a result of macro uncertainty, higher unemployment, and the [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids in certain states,' said Citi analyst Filippo Falorni in emailed comments.
Constellation Brands (STZ), known for beers such as Modelo and Corona, commissioned a study on Hispanic consumers, CFO Garth Hankinson said recently. Jim Sabia, president of the company's beer division, said at a conference that he recently saw few customers in California stores that were bustling just two years ago.
'There is a fear of the ICE raids,' Sabia said, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. 'There is a fear out there, so these consumers are changing their behavior.'
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