What Digital Divide?

The digital divide is narrowing. Today is like Christmas for yours truly. Scarborough Research just released a study on Hispanic online activity. In all key aspects especially pertaining to content downloads, Hispanics are leading the pack. (45% downloads vs. 32% for non-Hispanics.)

It's not that I want to say I told you so. But, today I sort of do. While the report does indicate that the total number of Hispanics online does lag the general population (54% vs. 68%), the rate of growth is staggering. Also, Hispanics leap frogged dial-up connections and went straight to broadband with penetration of 68% vs. 71% for the general population.

What I did find quite surprising is that online purchasing does not lag general market as much as I originally thought. In fact, 62% of Hispanics reported buying something online in the past 12 months vs. 70% for all internet users. They also spent similar amounts online to the general population ($762 vs. $861.) This new data does make me want to reevaluate my previous post on Hispanic online shopping.

All in all, the information contained in this report provides more evidence of the growing importance of the digital space for Hispanics. We continue to debunk the digital divide.

Why Hispanics Shop Online, but Don't Buy

Retailers are grasping at any opportunity to grow their sales in these turbulent times. Hispanics and our enormous buying power - over $980 billion in 2008 is certainly an attractive audience. $980 billion! To put that in context, that means that the 46 million Hispanics living in the U.S. have the second largest Spanish-speaking economy in the world, larger than Spain and second only to Mexico. That won't last. In 4-5 years, the U.S. Hispanic population will be wealthier than the entire Mexican economy which includes 110 million people.

So, Hispanics are critical to growing retailer business. No question. Then why is it that of all the retailers, just Best Buy and The Home Depot, have Spanish-language ecommerce-enabled sites?

Is it because Hispanics who can afford to buy online speak English so what's the use of maintaing two sites? Nope. That's silly. 60% of the Hispanic audience is Spanish-Dominant and another 15% is Bilingual - that doesn't mean those folks don't speak English. Most of us do. But we still want to do business in español.

Is it because Hispanics can't afford to buy online? No. See my earlier point about our buying power.

We Hispanics do shop online. Tons of data from AOL/Roper and Comscore support our propensity to research and shop online...but we don't really buy online. Huh? Where's the disconnect?

The reality is that while we love to research and shop online, we love to shop in person more. So while my mom may check out JCPenney.com to see what cute tops they have, she is less likely to click and pay for it online. She wants to try it on, feel the material and inspect the seams to make sure they weren't poorly made and make sure it fits well. And mostly, she just wants to get out of the house and take a stroll at the mall.

I've seen a bunch of data to support this concept of traffic vs. sales. Hispanic traffic to stores remains strong, but we aren't buying as much...that's just the nature of the economy and this will ultimately improve.

However, what about online shopping sites? Should retailers just write off the Hispanic consumer? Hardly. It takes time to change consumer behavior and you don't want to be the retailer who missed the boat with Hispanic online buying (as oppose to shopping.) Also, keep in mind that it's not like they aren't buying at your retail location. If you treat your Spanish-language website like a really cool catalogue or very interactive window shopping experience, you may position yourself for future growth into a full ecommerce enabled site when the time is right.

Facebook Privacy - What Privacy?

Facing extreme pressure from its users, Facebook rescinded their updated policy to essentially "own" in perputuity any content that a user uploads - even if that user deletes his or her profile. One would think that Facebook stole everyone's first born child with the firestorm the company endured this week. Blogs were abuzzing...

What I found interesting is two things - the idea of privacy on a social network and how Hispanics reacted (or didn't react) to the news. The easy one first: social networks are public forums! You may have implemented strict security settings, but in essence, the difference is between walking around naked in the street or on your balcony (either way, someone is going to see you.)

The second is a cultural understanding of Hispanics and their concept of privacy. I've scanned blogs and have seen few Hispanic surnames in the comments section. Hispanics don't seem to be that up in arms about this whole mess. Yet, Hispanics make up a healthy margin of Facebook users (in the neighborhood of 23% even though they make up only 15% of the population.) So what gives? Don't they care that Facebook wants to own their Quinceniera pictures?

The answer is not really. When you grow up in multigenerational households and alongside more siblings than non-Hispanics (3.2 average siblings vs. 2.3), you're idea of privacy is fluid. You understand and accept that your "business" is going to be shared with more people. You accept that your brother's friends are going to tell their cousin Maria that you threw up at the carnival and show her a picture of it. That's life. If Facebook wants to own pictures of your Aunt Teresa dancing salsa with Cuco, your pitbull, then go for it. Afterall, social networks are for sharing. Don't share what you don't want others to see or know.

Why the iPhone is Latino

As I was researching competitive information for a wireless client, I came across a really interesting fact. Over 32% of iPhone owners are Hispanic despite the fact that they only represent 15% of the population. Very interesting.

That made me wonder: why is the iPhone so popular among Latinos?

It's no surprise we like the functionality of the phone. I mean, we spend a lot of time downloading music, videos, wall papers, texting, IMing, emailing, etc. But there are plenty of other phones that do the same thing. Maybe not as cool, but certainly cheaper.

Yet, the answer is really quite simple. It's status. Who wants a Blackberry Curve when you can have an iPhone? The iPhone says something about who you are. It's like driving around in a BMW with an Administrative Assistant's salary.

And when you're present during everything from the mundane every day, to abuelitas Sunday barbeque after church, then you're part of the family. iPhone, welcome to the familia.