COON RAPIDS, Iowa -- A Midwest racker of rental and sell-through video programs is finding good success with Spanish-language titles, said Brad Kanne, vice president, sales and marketing, E.T. Video, here.
The company racks over 2,000 grocery and convenience stores in 44 states with its rental program, and services another 3,000 stores with sell-through product that includes new movies, previously viewed, special interest and Spanish-language titles, Kanne said.
In its rental inventory, E.T. Video will devote about 10% to Spanish videos, he said. A sell-through shipper has 75 units of about 20 different DVD titles, he noted. The DVDs retail for $7.99 with a good profit margin, he said.
"We currently rent Hispanic product in about 75 locations and sell the product in another 50 markets. Most of these are in Southwestern states like Arizona, New Mexico and California, but we are seeing significant growth in the Midwest," he said.
"The demographics of the U.S. are changing and the Hispanic population is growing, so it only makes sense to continue to identify the opportunities in these markets. Even though it is only a small percentage of our business now, we look at it as a major growth area for us in the next couple of years," Kanne said.
The key to marketing the Spanish titles is to first identify the markets that have the potential to sell the product. E.T. uses trade shows, direct mail, its Web site and its route sales people to get this information, he said. "Most of the time, the store owner or manager will request Hispanic product because their customers have asked for it," Kanne said.
"I think it is important to have this product available in the supermarkets because of the tremendous growth in the Hispanic population in some markets. Stores that respond to the demand for this product create a very loyal customer. If a store embraces the Hispanic customer as a customer they want, they will succeed," he said.
Many Hispanic customers prefer movies that have Latino stars and that are filmed in Mexico, he added.
However, with DVDs of American movies offering the option of Spanish subtitles, inventory can be minimized, Kanne said.
