Latina Beauty Consumers Show Strength

(L-R) VP of Meredith Hispanic Ventures Ruth Gaviria, Daisy Fuentes, director of multicultural marketing for Macy’s Kristyn Page, celebrity dermatologist Dr. Alicia Barba, celebrity hair stylist Leonardo Rocco and Siempre Mujer fashion and beauty editor Ursula Carranza.

Panel of experts acknowledges the importance of the Hispanic market, and gets to the heart of Latinas’ beauty-buying habits.

By Steve Katz, Associate Editor

Hispanic beauty consumers are an increasingly important segment of the beauty products marketplace. Why is this the case? Why should Latina consumers stand out? Well, for starters, sheer numbers. The demographic is growing at a dramatic pace, and with that, so is its spending power.

WGSN, a trend analysis company, says that Euromonitor estimates that Hispanics will account for 25% of the U.S. population by 2050. Research also shows that four out of five U.S. manufacturers have a Hispanic spokesperson, thus acknowledging their growing power as consumers. What’s more, for those looking outside of the U.S. to emerging markets, by 2015, the spending power of U.S. Hispanics alone is expected to equal 60% of what the Chinese spend—which is a lot.

Acknowledging the importance of the Hispanic market, and taking an in-depth look at the beauty habits of Latina women is an important exercise, as it reveals to beauty products manufacturers areas of focus for beauty products themselves as well as how they’re marketed. And that’s just what happened on the morning of May 19, at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City, when Siempre Mujer magazine hosted a breakfast panel to get to the heart of Latina beauty habits. The panel addressed key topics ranging from feelings about aging to brand loyalty.

Ruth Gaviria, vice president of Meredith Hispanic Ventures, Siempre Mujer’s publisher, moderated the in-depth discussion on Latina beauty habits, which featured a panel of experts. On hand was Daisy Fuentes, a model, TV personality and the author of Unforgettable You: Master the Elements of Style, Spirituality, and True Beauty; Siempre Mujer fashion and beauty editor Ursula Carranza; Kristyn Page, the director of multicultural marketing for Macy’s; celebrity hair stylist Leonardo Rocco; and celebrity dermatologist Alicia Barba.

Gaviria kicked off the discussion with these facts: The U.S. female Hispanic market is more than 23 million strong and has a spending power of $479 billion.

Boosting Volume in Key Areas
While the “natural look” may be a prevailing trend in the beauty industry today, it’s lost on Latinas, said Fuentes. “We’re not big fans of the natural look,” she said. “Sometimes, we think less is just, well, less.”

If there’s an area of beauty where “more is more,” it’s in the hair care market. As a stylist, Rocco has the opportunity to see firsthand just how important hair care is to Hispanics. He said, “Latinas associate long hair with sex appeal,” but while they tend toward “volume, movement and bouncy hair,” Hispanic women are especially interested in new trends when it comes to styling their hair.

“In Miami,” Rocco added, “they come to the salon every month for a change—a new color, a new style, some layers.”

While hair is important, it is perhaps trumped by skin care, as Carranza suggested. “For Latinas,” she said, “good skin is the foundation of true beauty.” She emphasized that for Latina women, skin is something that’s consistently talked about. “Latinas are good at following a skin care regimen and tend to pay higher price points for skin care products. Beauty is an ongoing conversation for Latinas. It’s something we discuss with our friends and our mothers,” Carranza said.

Loyalty Issues
In separate research, which complements Siempre Mujer’s findings, Mintel Oxygen, a division of Mintel International Group Ltd., recently conducted a study focusing on beauty and personal care customers in the U.S. The findings, based on a survey of 2,000 consumers aged 18 and over with Internet access, included the impact of race and Hispanic origin on beauty consumer activity. In the study, brand loyalty was an area that stood out, particularly purchasing behavior in the wake of the recession.

“Hispanics in general are less likely to be brand loyal where a number of beauty and personal care items are concerned,” the report says, suggesting that marketers of brand name items must do more to cultivate dedicated Hispanic buyers of their brands.

Mintel’s research also indicates that compared to other ethnicities, Hispanics report the least likelihood to still buy the same brand of body soap/shower gel, hand soap, and body/hand lotion in the last six months. “Hispanics are generally also the most likely to switch to less expensive brands or private label products, indicating that either the recession is impacting this group the most, or they are less cognizant of brands in the BPC aisle and therefore switch between brands more often than other ethnicities,” according to the report.

Tips for Engagement
At the panel, Macy’s Kristyn Page maintained that Latinas are brand loyal, but emphasized that “you can’t take that for granted.” She encouraged marketers to keep their beauty campaigns “fresh, modern and new” while engaging in a “continuous conversation.” She called the Latina consumer a “sweet spot” for beauty brands, some of whom are doing a great job of reaching and engaging that market with a 360 degree approach that includes well-trained staff, the right products, events, and targeted creative and grassroots programs.

Mintel’s research also discusses ethnic attitudes toward product packaging, and notes that Hispanic women who bought facial skin care or cosmetics in the past six months are the most likely to say they do not pay attention to packaging, and the least likely to feel that most products are hard to open. “This means that Hispanic women will not be deterred by packaging as much as other ethnicities, and that retailers should keep this in mind when choosing merchandise that caters to Hispanic women’s beauty care needs,” the report says.

In addition, according to Mintel, Hispanic women are also the most likely to shop at a mass store for facial skin care, further indicating that this group is the most likely to seek out affordable stores and products.

Gaviria closed the panel with takeaways for marketers interested in reaching the Latina consumer. She emphasized, “Understand her heritage, language and personal investment in beauty; recognize what motivates her; show her reflection in your ads; and build her self-esteem.”