Web sites begin to woo Hispanic buyers -- slowly

NEW YORK

While brick-and-mortar retailers are actively wooing the Hispanic customer, online merchants are just starting to wake up to the opportunities presented by the fast-growing segment of the U.S. population.

Office Depot Inc. and Sharper Image are among the handful of retailers that have launched sites entirely in Spanish. This past week, America Online launched its first comprehensive Spanish language national advertising campaign for TV, radio and print.

Hispanics "are approaching critical mass, and it is only a matter of time before companies begin to take care of this group," said Lisa Strand, an analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings, an Internet research company, which earlier this year formed a partnership with Univision, the Spanish language media company, to more accurately track this population online.

But she said, for now, "it's still a B-list priority for many marketers."

According to comScore Networks Inc., an Internet research company, only about 3 percent of all content on the Web is in Spanish.

The problem is that although Hispanics have been the fastest-growing segment online since last June, the percentage among Hispanic households that have Internet access -- about 40 percent -- still lags far behind that of non-Hispanic households, which is estimated at 70 percent, according to Nielsen/ NetRatings.

According to the most recent Nielsen/NetRatings data, 12.5 million Hispanics were on the Web in March, up 17 percent from the year-ago period.

Target.com is set to come out with merchandising initiatives online in both Spanish and English later this year, and company spokesman Doug Kline said that developing an entire site in Spanish is "on the radar screen."

Meanwhile, Sears, Roebuck and Co. has a link to its Web site that allows consumers to read brochures on appliances and consumer electronics in Spanish. Bill Masterson, a company spokesman, said allowing consumers to make a sales transaction in Spanish is something "we are working toward."

On the other hand, jcpenney.com does not have any of its content in Spanish, nor do the Web sites for Wal-Mart or Kmart.