Thread: Home Depot reaching out to Hispanic shoppers

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 80326/1066

Home Depot reaching out to Hispanic shoppers

By JULIE MORAN ALTERIO
jalterio@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: May 28, 2006)

César Maldonado's wife of almost one year got a surprise Tuesday when the 29-year-old restaurant runner from Port Chester brought home a shiny new gas grill.

"Usually she cooks for me," he said, standing in line at The Home Depot in Port Chester and clutching a set of grilling utensils he planned to put into action that night to prepare a steak for dinner.

While Maldonado waited for a cashier to ring up his order, he got some tips on operating the controls from gardening supervisor Juan Cepero, who also urged him not to forget to send in a coupon for a $25 gift card.

It was the kind of transaction that goes on thousands of times a day at Home Depot stores. What makes it notable is the customer and employee were speaking in Spanish.

Maldonado, an immigrant who arrived from Ecuador nine years ago, still has trouble with English. He chooses to shop at Home Depot because he watches ads for the retailer in Spanish on cable TV and knows that when he visits a store he can find someone who will help him in his native language.

Home Depot, the second-largest retailer in the United States after Wal-Mart with annual sales of $81.5 billion, is making its biggest push yet to reach out to Hispanic shoppers

• The Atlanta-based retailer joined with Telemundo to create the first Spanish home improvement TV show, "Mi Primer Hogar" ("My First Home").

• Bilingual signs are being rolled out in more than 800 stores.

• New culturally relevant products are being developed, including a line of paint called Colores Origenes ("Colors of my Origins") with a palette designed to appeal to Hispanics.

• How-to clinics are being taught in English and Spanish.

• The Home Depot is partnering with national Hispanic organizations to recruit employees.

A growing demographic

Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority in the United States. Home Depot estimates their purchasing power will reach $1 trillion by 2008, or 9.6 percent of the gross domestic product.

Last year, Hispanics spent $27 billion on home improvement, according to the company.

According to the U.S. Census's 2004 American Community Survey, there were 40.5 million Hispanic people in the United States, or 14.2 percent of the population.

In Westchester, 17.7 percent of the county's population, or 162,834, was identified as Hispanic.

In Rockland County, 11.8 percent of the population, or 33,859 people, was Hispanic.

In Putnam County, 6.2 percent of the population, or 5,976 people, was Hispanic.

Home Depot research found that 22.7 percent of Hispanic homeowners had a home improvement project on the table in 2003, compared to 19.1 of non-Hispanic homeowners.

"It's a great business for us. It's a great opportunity. Every year, our sales goals go up and they are part of making that happen for us," said Sol Axelrod, manager of the Port Chester Home Depot.

Axelrod estimates that 60 percent of the customers at his store are Hispanic.

Spanish-speaking employees are on call to help those who aren't fluent in English.

Handy language skills

Cepero, a 41-year-old Port Chester resident who joined Home Depot a year ago, said he uses his Spanish-speaking skills "all day long."

"Sometimes I come across (Hispanic customers) speaking to an English-speaking associate, and I see they are having a hard time trying to communicate. I just try to jump in and help out. That's what it's about," said Cepero, who emigrated from Cuba when he was 4.

The Port Chester Home Depot has the new bilingual signs on order, but in the meantime the efforts to reach Spanish-speaking customers are on view in other areas at the store.

A few cash registers away from where Maldonado was checking out, Luis Alarcon and Denisse Chan of Greenwich, Conn., got some help using the Spanish language version of the self-checkout register.

"Sometimes I don't know the name of something in English, so it's easier for me to use Spanish," said Alarcon, who said he and his wife come to the Home Depot a couple of times a month.

Exerting influence

Using its purchasing power, Home Depot is also urging its suppliers to include Spanish-language instructions on packages.

The store's own brands, such as the VIVA! plant line, are also getting the bilingual treatment.

"A lot of it is reaching out to our vendor partners, the businesses, and saying, 'This is what we need and this is what people are asking for,' " Axelrod said.

The showcase product in this effort is Colores Origenes, which includes 70 paints with names geared to Hispanics.

"Café Expreso" will bring to mind the "cafecito" drink popular among Cubans.

"Horchata" is targeted to Mexicans, who enjoy the rice drink.

Walking the walk

Maria Perez, owner of Adventures in Advertising/New Dimensions in Marketing in Elmsford, said many companies are trying to win a share of the growing Hispanic market.

Perez likes what she sees at Home Depot in terms of hiring, Spanish-language advertising and the paint colors.

"It makes me feel good. They're not just talking the talk, they are actually doing something," Perez said.

"I'm sure it's going to encourage more Hispanic people to visit the stores."

Miguel A. Blanco, publisher of the White Plains-based Hispanic newspaper El Aguila, said that while Home Depot's efforts to reach the Hispanic community are broad, he sees it as something the company must do.

"It's about time they do it, understanding the amount of dollars they generate from our community as a whole, given that we are contractors, subcontractors, laborers, handymen, masons and landscapers. We are in that industry very heavily," Blanco said.

Bernard Rodriguez, a Home Depot employee who specializes in serving the professional customers who visit the Port Chester store, said he's often called upon to use his Spanish, which he learned from his Puerto Rican parents.

"It's very, very important in a community like this where a vast majority of the people that shop here are South American," Rodriguez said.

"It's helpful to them, and it's beneficial to us."

COMMENT ON THIS STORY IN OUR FORUMS

My husband and I have stopped shopping at Home Depot when the isle markers started popping up in Spanish/English. Pretty clear indication that Home Depot is cathering to non-speaking English folks.

The Target in our town also has signs in english/spanish to cater to the large amount of spanish speaking people in our area, many of which are illegal aliens. I no longer shop there.