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This holiday season Hispanic shoppers will make the difference between a ‘Feliz’ (happy) and ‘Feria’ (fair) ‘Navidad’ for retailers, according to 2,417 Hispanic consumers who participated in the Brand Keys 20th annual Holiday Shopping Survey.

The projected individual spend among Hispanic households is estimated to be $985.00, about 7% higher than last year, and nearly 15% higher than the projected 2014 spend for the general population. But retailers will need to work culturally smarter if they want to get their share.

In this year’s Brand Keys Holiday Shopping survey, 54% of the general population indicated they were going to start Holiday shopping in November, a trend we’ve commented upon for a number of years now. But this is not the case for Hispanic shoppers. Nearly half of Hispanic consumers surveyed (49%) indicated they were going to wait until Black Friday November 28. Many Hispanics (38%) indicated they were going to wait well into the traditional holiday shopping season to buy gifts, which has less to do with discounts and more the time taken to search for the perfect gift. The rest started shopping last month.

Virtually all consumers interviewed indicated they’ll buy holiday gifts online this year (98%), and is equally true for Hispanic shoppers. And, even in light of the mobile sales movement, brick-and-mortar retailers rank high on Hispanic consumers’ list of places to shop, with some meaningful differences from the general population:

Store Type                                    2014               % change from General Population

Traditional Department Stores     88%                                        +10

Specialty & Apparel Stores             63%                                        +23

Discount Department Stores         90%                                        – 6

Catalogues                                          15%                                        -10

Gift cards have become as universal as greetings cards, and Hispanic shoppers indicated they’d buy at least one this year, at slightly higher levels (98%, +3) than the general population. Hispanic consumers indicated that the following categories are where money will be spent. The differences from the general population is worth noting by retailers:

Gift Categories                               2014             % change from General Population

Clothing and Accessories                    83%                                        +5

Electronics/Phones/Computer          58%                                       +7

Jewelry                                                    25%                                        +5

Food and Wine                                       21%                                        +1

Toys                                                           15%                                        +7

Home Décor                                            10%                                        +3

Personal Care Products/Spa               10%                                       -23

Hispanic consumer expectations are up again this year regarding outreach and convenience, but particularly as regards the brick-and-mortar retail shopping experience. Brand trumps dollar-value perceptions among this cohort and retailers that can integrate some sense of Hispanic culture and store experience with all forms of outreach will likely find it to be a winning combination for this shopper segment. Y una muy feliz navidad este año!

Find out more about what makes customer loyalty happen and how Brand Keys metrics is able to predict future consumer behavior: brandkeys.com. Visit our YouTube channel to learn more about Brand Keys methodology, applications and case studies.