Smart Marketer April 2010

Strong retail sales, despite a few months away from back to school shopping, is the latest indication that the economic recovery is well under way. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 9.1% in March, the largest monthly jump since Thomson Reuters began tracking results in 2000, well ahead of Wall Street estimates of a 6.3% increase. 1 The Internet medium alongside the Hispanic Internet User target is poised to attract dollars due to impacting both online and offline sales, the ability to quantify campaign success, and the option to reach this desirable demographic in new ways only available online.

According to Pew Research Center, Hispanics (22%) are significantly more likely to live in multigenerational HH’s vs. White (13%). Specifically, among Latinos in multi-generational households, 48% are in a three-generation household, which surpasses this living arrangement among those that are White, Black or Asian.

This helps to explain why Latinos are seen dining and shopping together in large groups at times; market to one and reach all as they surely both consume and recommend purchases to one another.

It is not at all surprising that the retail category is ranked #1 in terms of Internet ad spending, accounting for 20% of revenues or 4.5 billion in 2009 3 given the following relevant highlights:

US retail e-commerce sales are estimated to grow from $152.1 billion in 2010 to $223.9 billion in 2014 4 ,
13.8% of visitors exposed to campaigns, within the Retail & Apparel category, actually visited the website of the advertiser 1-4 weeks after first exposure within a Study conducted by comScore, which is a lift of 52% from those not exposed. 5 Note to marketers to focus on both the creative itself, which is pinned as generally holding the success of the campaign itself, as well as the landing page.
Online research will influence 46% of in-store sales this year. Note: take place online or be influenced by the Web. 6

Targeting the Hispanic multigenerational, multicultural consumer is hardly elusive. For example, Terra – Telefonica property reaches 16.7% of all Hispanic moms online defined throughout as Ethnicity Hispanic Spanish Primary or Bilingual, Age 18-49, with children in the household. These moms are 818% more likely to visit our property and generate 560% more page views on Terra – Telefonica vs. any other site across US Total Internet, and therefore, this much more likely to interact with advertising as well. 7

Moms and consumers alike drove specific retail categories to report stronger sales gains in March than others.

As it happens, not all moms are alike either. As seen on Chart #3, luxury goods, home furnishings and specialty apparel all posted strong gains Mar ’10 vs. Mar ’09. Likewise, chart #4 indicates above average interaction with these categories online among Terra’s moms, of which fully 56.8% leverage the Internet for comparison shopping:

Strong interest affinity towards retail activity from a particular sites’ target audience, certainly helps in obtaining related advertising, but marketers are also looking to engage in one-to-one communication with the consumer. Terra.com has been engaging in one-to-one dialogue with Latinos for well over a decade since launching the site.

Terra’s Mujer (Women) Channel is designed to welcome its multicultural community by empowering its visitors one-to-one with Terra’s editorial team, additional consultants from the field and each other in a virtual viral ecosystem:

María Marín answers viewer questions in video. Visitors have a chance to follow up responses, anonymously if necessary, by form submission of which top dialogues are posted for all to view: http://comunidad.terra.com/resumen/index/user/mariamarin

Be a Smart Marketer, align your marketing message to reach Hispanic moms, which tend to be the primary purchasers or purchase decision makers of the household. Hispanics are more likely to live in multigenerational households vs. non-Hispanic whites, therefore having more consumers per household making for a very desirable audience target. If direct dialogue with the consumer is saught, consider placement or sponsorship on sites that have already been doing this for decades by now.

Retail posted record store sales during March ’10 indicating resurgence in the economy. Time for spring cleaning - ensure your creative and landing page are in top shape for visitors exposed to display advertising causing interaction to the advertiser site, and hopefully conducting e-commerce or influencing in-shore purchases, as well.

1.) Wahba. Phil. March Retail Sales Jump. Post Record Growth. Reuters.com. Apr 8 ‘10

2.) Rosenbloom, Stephanie. U.S. Retailers Report Strong Gains for March. NYTimes.com. Apr 8, ‘10

3.) Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: 2009 Full-Year Results,” Apr 2010

4.) eMarketer. Comparative Estimates: US Retail E-Commerce Sales 2010-2014 (billions). Mar ‘10

5.) Fulgoni, Gian M. Morn, Marie Pauline. How Online Advertising Works: Whither the Click? Dec ‘08

6.) eMarketer sourcing Forrester Research, “US Online Retail Forecast” as cited by Internet Retailer, March 8, 2010

7.) comScore. Key Measures – with Unified Media. US Total Internet. Mar ’10. Analysis performed by Terra USA Research.

8.) Rosenbloom, Stephanie. Upbeat Signs Revive Consumers’ Mood for Spending. Citing source SpendingPulse/MasterCard Advisors. NYTimes.com. Apr 6, ‘10

9.) comScore. Cross Visiting. Mar ’10. Analysis performed by Terra USA Research.