Thread: Retailers catch on to the buying power of immigrants.

Retailers catch on to the buying power of immigrants

Los Angeles Times

By Tiffany Hsu > > >
December 24, 2008

Delfino Turan remembers his first trip to a Best Buy store, but not very fondly. ¶ Turan, at the time a recent immigrant from Mexico, said he could barely understand what salespeople were saying. What's more, he couldn't afford to pay for the purchases he wanted upfront, and the store didn't offer to extend credit. ¶ So Turan now shops for electronics at the La Curacao department store near downtown, where he went the other day to replace the broken TV in the lunch truck he operates. ¶ "Here they understand Spanish, and they understand people like us," he said after signing off on a down payment. "They treat you really well, they give easy credit, and they don't ever say no." ¶ Catering to immigrant customers has long been the stock in trade of ethnic-focused stores such as La Curacao Famsa, which caters to Spanish-speaking customers, and Kim's Home Center, a favorite of Korean immigrants. But as electronics sales wilt in the tough market and immigrants' buying power blooms, major big-box retailers such as Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are catching on and catching up.

Many are using bilingual websites to turn online browsers into in-store clients, while others are hiring staffers with language skills and updating in-store signs and displays to appeal to immigrants.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-e ... 5378.story

TS77

More propaganda, we all know they send most of their money home!

And retailers are hiring them while the corrupt idiots in congress who don't give a horse's ass about struggling Americans ignore this and propose a massive taxpayer subsidized illegal alien jobs giveaway called a stimulus.......

They also charge much more. Easy credit comes at a price.

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

More propaganda, we all know they send most of their money home!

"Here they understand Spanish, and they understand people like us,"

Translation: "They are most likely in the country illegally too...."


TS77

What's more, he couldn't afford to pay for the purchases he wanted upfront, and the store didn't offer to extend credit.

What buying power when it's based on a loan they may or may not pay off. We have rent to own places and such, but they want information to take a risk, not just give it out because it's one of their own. I think the only time a business extended me credit was if I worked there and they took it out of my pay. Lord knows I wished there were ones who would have let me put milk or something on a tab, but they couldn't run a business that way.

I wonder how friendly and accomodating they are to English speaking Americans and if they are as credit friendly to them? I know in the stores I see around here they aren't concerned about putting their signs in English or speaking English. In fact they don't really want you as a customer...........

I bank at one of those places that has a counter and a couple of tellers inside a grocery store, in addition to the regular bank. I walked in one day and EVERY sign in the branch bank was in Spanish. I made of point of walking up and saying "habla Engleeeeesh? Can Americans bank here?" Then I called the bank's 800 number and reminded them that we were in the U.S. and not in Mexico, perhaps they would like to appeal to real Americans. By the time I finished with my groceries the Spanish signs were down. Sure, they were probably up the next day but I got a small amount of satisfaction making them uncomfortable.