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

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