Washington Post:
The rapidly growing Hispanic population will have a profound effect on the landscape of the small business community, said marketing expert Chiqui Cartagena, who also noted that Latino women now make up the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs in the United States.
Latinos accounted for about 15 percent of the total U.S. population in July 2007 with a spending power of $850 billion. Projections show that figure is likely to exceed $1 trillion by 2010, according to Cartagena, who is the author of Latino Boom! Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business in the Hispanic Market.
Cartagena spoke to an attentive audience in the packed National Press Club ballroom Thursday morning where a half-day conference, Latino Buying Power, was hosted by the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
She said 53 percent of Hispanics owned homes in 2006 and will make up 40 percent of new home buyers over the next 20 years, opening business and marketing opportunities for banks, home furnishing stores and other companies catering to home ownership. But Hispanic buying power is not limited to real estate. According to data from Geoscape that Cartagena cited, Hispanics tend to spend more on groceries, phone services, furniture, gasoline, children’s clothing and footwear.
Her data show that Mexicans make up 67 percent of Hispanics in the United States, Central and South Americans make up 14 percent, followed by Puerto Ricans at 9 percent, Cubans with 4 percent and “other” Hispanics at 6 percent. Thirty-five percent of all Hispanics in the United States are under the age of 18 and 50 percent are under 34. Read more.
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