Am I dreaming? Am I still asleep? What’s going on? Why am I in a Mexican grocery store that reminded me of my infancy in this almost thirty year old body? Why am I hung over? There were many questions in my head and I wasn’t thinking correctly. Maybe I was still a sleep, dreaming about old grocery stores in Mexico from when I was a little kid. Or maybe I was remembering visiting my grandmother in Tijuana, Mexico, and going to the grocery store to buy some peanuts. Or maybe I just had a huge headache and was really thirsty in a Hispanic grocery store that made me feel like I was in Mexico in 1990, but I was actually in Austin, TX… yes! And this was two weeks ago! I didn’t really know what was going on, maybe I was still a little bit tipsy from the night before and I was imaging things.
I had a great party on Friday night with my friends from the MBA program. We went out and partied in downtown. I woke up on Saturday and all I could think about was “I’m Walter from the Big Lebowski movie and I need a costume, I need camouflage pants, but where am I going to buy them?” I woke up, took a shower and searched the internet for the Army-Navy store located on N. Lamar. I headed out in my car, driving north and looking both sides for this small (tiny actually) army store. As I was looking around, I saw a sign, not a regular sign but THE SIGN!… something that caught my attention, especially with my big hangover. In a far distance to my right I saw “Taqueria”!, which is a really unusual word in the US. It’s something really common in Mexico but I had never seen it in Austin or anywhere in the US. You always see signs with words like “Tacos”, “Mexican food” or “Chips and Queso”, something that tries to resemble the fact that this place is a Mexican restaurant. I decided to drive back, park and check it out. To my surprise this wasn’t actually a restaurant, instead it was a Mexican grocery store or maybe you could call it a “retailer oriented to a Hispanic community”.
The first thing I thought when I went in there was: “What is this place?”. I have been living in Austin for the last seven months and all my life have been around the US. I lived at the border with the US for 18 years and I had never experienced this kind of Mexican culture and involvement in US soil, especially in a grocery store. I guess that certain retail chains and many other companies have foreseen that the Hispanic community will grow in a near future with a potential purchasing power. According to investigations made by Mintel Oxygen, Hispanics’ “purchasing power is projected to reach more than $1.4 trillion by 2013” 1a and “population is projected to grow by 12.9%, compared to 2.9% by non-Hispanics from 2008-13” 1a. I believe that retailers in the US are trying to integrate processes, activities and feelings in their stores that involved the Hispanic community, things that make them feel back at “home”.
On my personal experience, we Hispanics have certain values taught to us since a young age. Family, friends, love and respect are some of the most important things in life. Your country, your heritage and your culture are some of the things you should feel more proud of. This type of store brought mixed feelings to me. It made me remember my childhood which made me feel happy, but at the same time it made feel like I didn’t fit, the whole store didn’t fit in the US environment. I know it might sound really confusing, but it was hard for me too. It is hard to describe the feelings, emotions and thoughts I experienced when I walked in there.
There are many things to talk about with the Hispanic grocery store concept. I could talk about the target market, why they decided on that, how they intend to reach it, the store concept and layout, type of products and services offered inside and out, competitors and marketing strategies. This topic will give the opportunity to explore things that have always caught my attention about the retail industry such as how grocery stores do their internal marketing, how they design the stores and why the products are in which shelf. I think all these aspects are part of the strategy to reach the target market but at the same time increase sales. We’ll see how this topic develops along the way, but one thing is for sure… Viva Mexico!
Sources:
1. Hispanic Retail 360 Summit - August 2009
a.Mintel Oxygen. “Hispanics and the Retail Environment”. Leyhla Ahuile. (excerpts from the Mintel Reports: “Hispanics and the Retail Experience”, July 2009 and “The Economic Impact of Hispanics in the US Marketplace”, June 2009).
Fernando - I know we talked about this topic in class and I think it will be great. The questions you pose above towards the end of your post are really centered around the notion of the customer experience - somehow, when the right pieces come together, the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts and, thus, the jolt you had while you were in the store. I like this topic and I think your main challenge is going to be pulling it together with a focused structure so that the paper does not just become a rambling mess. I know you can do it, but let me know if you want to chat after you pull together some of your resources.
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