Mexican Americans comprise approximately 70% of the U.S. Hispanic population of more than 60 million; therefore, successful marketing to the Mexican American population in the U.S. is a critical element of a thriving Hispanic marketing practice.
Marketing to immigrants and first-generation Mexican Americans is the daily bread and butter for brand marketers at southwestern U.S.-based retailers and supermarkets. 43-year-old Northgate González Market is a prime example of a retail organization that almost exclusively targets Mexican American consumers. Northgate operates 43 stores in Southern California with an annual revenue of approximately US $1.3 billion. (The multicultural grocery market is estimated at US$ 50 billion in annual sales).
The Hispanic population in the Southwest (Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico) consists mostly of Mexicans. Food preferences vary depending on the country of origin. Mexican cuisine focuses more on spices, for example, while Cuban cuisine focuses more on fruits, root vegetables, and citrus marinades, according to Global Strategy Consultancy L.E.K Consulting.
“We provide the best authentic Mexican food shopping experience at the store level. Satisfying our target audiences’ needs and wants gives the brand authority and credibility in the Mexican food experience space, Victor Huerta, Brand Manager, Northgate González Market, tells Portada.
Northgate González Market’s Huerta adds that his company “has a clear vision of how we want to position our brand and who our target audiences are. We are very selective in our advertising tools and communication platforms to connect with these specific audiences.
Our target audiences are constantly evolving, hand in hand with our trade areas and markets. There is always new technology, food trends, and specific shopping behaviors that we need to understand, so we can take advantage of them and leverage our brand. That’s where we put on our marketer hats and combine all these tools to create impactful, relevant, and memorable marketing campaigns that connect with our customers.”