A couple of weeks ago I posted on the trend of mainstream grocery stores shifting their focus from the general public to focus on Latino customers. This trend seems to be picking up a lot of momentum, because there is a new story on this topic at least twice a week. The latest story is from rural Arkansas, where a former "Food Town" is transforming itself into "El Ranchito" (read the story here).

In addition to these mainstream supermarket makeovers,we are also seeing a lot of mom and pop Latino-focused grocery stores popping up in once exclusively angloareas where new Latino immigrants are starting to lay down routes. In these areas, this mini market is ripe for picking and competition is non-existent. Here’s a story from a distant place I must say I’ve never even heard of: Lima, Ohio.

And another from Fairmont, Minnesota.
And another from Sarasota, Florida.
And a feature story on the trend in general from the Dallas Morning News.

All of this buzz begs the question: why aren’t the major supermarket players in Mexico, like Comercial Mexicana, Gigante or even Wal-Mart-owned Superama getting a piece of this? They know the market better than anyone and are huge enough to snatch up these dying grocery store chains and convert them to their model, plus they have brand recognition that none of these new guys could ever compete with. Maybe it’s just a matter of time.

According to a press release featured on HispanicBusiness.com, David’s Bridal has launched a new web site in Spanish. From the release:

"David’s Bridal recognizes that the Hispanic customer represents an
important and rapidly growing segment of the bridal market," said
Robert D. Huth, President and CEO of David’s Bridal. "These
fashion-conscious young women are on the cutting edge of trends and
come to us for wedding and bridesmaid dresses, as well as Quinceanera
gowns. Our new Spanish language site and other marketing efforts are
designed to keep these valued customers and their family members
informed about our dresses and accessories for all their special
occasion needs."

The new David’s Bridal Spanish
language web site features: * Bi-lingual registration where brides can
elect to receive information in either Spanish or English, as well as a
bi-lingual appointment request form * Information on styles popular
with Latinas for weddings and other special occasions * Quinceanera
dresses and accessories * Store locator by zip code

Future plans
include an Estorias de Boda (Wedding Stories) section featuring "real
brides" who submit photos and memories of their wedding day.

"Estorias" de boda? That would be "historias". I’m not trying to bully, I’m just saying, spelling the word "story" wrong is a pretty good indication that you are NOT trying very hard. And that’s what I hate, this half-baked effort by marketers to short-cut their way into the Hispanic community with shoddy translations and uncreative marketing. Do they think that monolingual Spanish speakers don’t mind seeing their language butchered?

With the Sun-Maid flub in mind, I went in to check out the quality of David’s Bridal’s new Spanish site. Looks good at first, but without even clicking, what do I see? A big old ad on the right side of the page that says BESTIDOS PARA DAMAS DE HONOR. That would be VESTIDOS in real Spanish.

Luckily for David’s Bridal, their site depends more on images than on text, so if you are forgiving with the horrible spelling and weird translations (for the benefit of Spanish speakers, here’s a good one: "Encuentra tu atuendo ideal de la cabeza a los pies"), then one can probably find what one wants.

But, again, if you are making the effort to showcase your new Spanish-language efforts via a press release, please make sure your site is actually communicating in proper Spanish. It’s a small investment, but one that will garner praise rather than rejection from your Spanish-speaking audience.

HispanicBusiness.com             READ THE RELEASE
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