Latino Growth Is Leading to Market Disruption in Dallas/Fort Worth, Recent Study by Rincon & Associates LLC Shows
(PRWEB) July 13, 2016 -- As the 7th largest Latino market in the U.S. with 2.2 million Latino residents, the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area is experiencing a market disruption that is already changing the fortunes of key players in the marketplace. With a buying power of $29 billion and growing at a pace of 53,000 persons annually, Latinos in Dallas/Fort Worth represent a coveted prize that is creating a battlefield for their consumer dollars.
The Dallas/Ft. Worth Latino Trendline Study 2016, conducted by Dallas-based Rincon & Associates LLC, identified several areas where these battles are taking place:
Supermarkets
• Walmart has become the dominant choice for Latino supermarket shoppers with a 28 percent market share, outpacing competitors Kroger (12%), H-E-B (8%), El Rancho (11%), and Fiesta Mart (7%).
• Fiesta Mart lost significant market share from its 2011 market share of 25 percent.
• Fiesta Mart continues to appeal to foreign-born Latinos, but lost most of its appeal to native-born Latinos.
Legal Services
• Latinos remain an under-served segment for legal services with 75 percent not using legal services in the past 2 years.
• Attorneys serving Latinos have traditionally limited their services to DWI, immigration, personal injury, and crime while few attorneys provide Latinos services to protect their assets, such as contracts, wills, home foreclosures, and intellectual property.
• To improve access to affordable legal services, The Law Store plans to open their shop in Dallas-area Walmart stores during the latter of part of 2016. With Walmart’s current popularity among Latinos, area attorneys that serve Latinos are certain to feel some disruption in their business.
Healthcare
• With expanded healthcare coverage, Latinos should have improved access to healthcare providers. However, nearly one-third (32%) of Latinos did not use any hospital over the past two years and foreign-born Latinos (40%) were nearly twice as likely as native-born Latinos (22%) to not use any hospital.
• While some Latinos may delay or avoid traditional medical care, ER or urgent care clinics have become a frequent destination for one-third (34%) of Latinos. The popularity of these clinics stems from several factors, such as the lack of a primary physician, the high cost of traditional medical care, and the convenience of their locations and office hours.
• When buying prescription medicine, Walgreen’s (33%) was the preferred destination for Latinos, followed further behind by CVS Pharmacy (21%) and Walmart (20%). These two drug store chains are attracting different Latino segments: Walgreen’s attracted more foreign-born Latinos (36%) than native-born Latinos (28%), while CVS Pharmacy attracted more native-born Latinos (23%) than foreign-born Latinos (19%). Despite more aggressive efforts to court Latino consumers in other markets like California and Florida, the Dallas/Fort Worth market remains a challenge for CVS Pharmacy. In trying to attract more Latino consumers, drug stores chains are encouraging pharmacists to create more trusting relationships with Latino customers, many of whom rely on pharmacists almost exclusively for medical advice in their countries of origin.
Interest in Family Entertainment Venues
• Latinos are attracted to family entertainment venues that are more affordable for their families. Popular venues included Six Flags Over Texas, the Dallas Zoo, and the Fort Worth Zoo.
• Sports-related venues, however, were less popular. Native-born Latinos with higher incomes were attracted by sports venues more often than foreign-born Latinos. Whether Latinos prefer to view sports events on television, find the cost prohibitive, or some other factor – it seems clear there is room for improvement when engaging Latino sports fans.
Politics
• Despite his assertions, Latinos have no love for Donald Trump. If voting today in the presidential election, Latino registered voters or those planning to register would vote for Hillary Clinton by a 40-point margin (51% to 11%) – similar to a 42-point margin from a national poll of Latino registered voters conducted by Fox Latino News in June 2016.
• Hillary Clinton’s strongest support among DFW Latinos was voiced by women, the college educated, the lower income, the Spanish-dominant, and non-Millennials.
• Support for Hillary Clinton was higher among Latinos who had plans to register to vote (61%) than registered voters (48%), suggesting that Trump’s negative campaigning against Latinos is benefitting Hillary Clinton.
Media Usage
• Access to the Internet nearly doubled since the 2011 study, jumping from 49 percent to 89 percent, due primarily from the large gain for foreign-born Latinos – 38 percent to 85 percent.
• Newspaper reach has increased substantially for English-language newspapers, among native-born and foreign-born Latinos, but decreased or changed little for Spanish-language newspapers.
Edward T. Rincon, Ph.D., Rincon & Associates LLC, http://www.rinconassoc.com, +1 (214) 750-3800, [email protected]
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