SEMINAR EXAMINES HISPANIC DAIRY-BUYING HABITS

ROSEANNE HARPER

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Retailers are lagging when it comes to effectively marketing dairy products to Hispanics, according to industry experts.

"We [in the industry] have been lazy about marketing to Hispanics. Twenty years ago, we had large Italian cheese sections, and we still do. Do you need a 12-foot section of Italian cheeses now? Maybe it should be more like 3% of the case," said Frank Kelczewski, director of category management for the American Dairy Association, Syracuse, N.Y.

He and Linda Thomas, a marketing representative from Kraft Foods, urged retailers attending the Eastern Perishable Products Association Expo at the Meadowlands Convention Center to explore the opportunities to market dairy products to Hispanics in their areas.

It takes research and planning because marketing to this segment of the population is a whole other ball game, they said.

For example, the Hispanic consumer favors full-fat milk and full-fat cheese while the general population might seek out low- and no-fat options. Hispanics, too, have very particular buying patterns, some of which undoubtedly are bred of the fact that they are extremely family-oriented and eat at home more often than the general population does, the speakers said. Hispanics visit the supermarket more often than other customers do, and they also buy in quantity.

"Food is important, eating with the family is important, and Mom is important. In fact, a recent survey shows that Hispanic teens named their Mom as their No. 1 role model. That differs from the general population where teens would probably name a rock star, whichever one is in favor at the time," Kelczewski said.

Since the Hispanic family, for the most part, is traditional, with Mom at home and seen as a pivotal figure, any marketing strategy targeting this group should keep Mom at the center of it, Kelczewski said.

One crucial factor to keep in mind is the segmentation of the Hispanic population by country of origin, making it imperative that retailers educate themselves about the Hispanics in their particular trade area, the speakers said. For example, Mexicans use cheese as an ingredient in cooking much more often than Puerto Ricans do; likewise, Mexicans buy chunk cheese and Puerto Ricans prefer sliced cheese, they noted.