Hispanics purchase a variety of non-alcoholic beverages for their families and for their own consumption. When deciding which beverages to buy, they tend to look for the ones that they consider healthy, good for their families and, most importantly, have good flavor. Hispanics welcome products that offer health benefits or that are vitamin or nutrient enhanced. At the same time, while Hispanics would like to consume beverages that are all natural or free from preservatives, they don’t lose sleep over that; in fact, few consider that not having high-fructose corn syrup is important when deciding which beverages to purchase.

Most non-alcoholic beverages categories have brands that are well-known and popular among Hispanics and others that are trying to gain some share. However, the majority of brands are part of very fragmented markets and may have a harder task ahead before gaining a solid base of Hispanic drinkers.

The Hispanic Consumers and Non-Alcoholic Beverages – US, November 2014 report offers an overview of the Hispanic non-alcoholic beverages market. The report covers past-month purchases, change in purchases compared with a year ago, as well as brands used for a variety of categories, including bottled water, dairy milk, 100% fruit juice and fruit juice drinks, regular soda, diet soda, coffee, sports drinks, tea, and energy drinks. It also reviews what is important for Hispanics at the moment of deciding which beverages to purchase and where they are typically purchased.

The report also includes a correspondence analysis to present a visual representation of which attributes Hispanics associate non-alcoholic beverages with. This report compares findings by key demographics including age, gender, household income, language spoken at home, level of acculturation, and region.

In addition to this report, readers may find more information about non-alcoholic beverages in the following reports produced by Mintel:

• Hispanics and Non-Alcoholic Beverages – US, March 2012

• Blacks and Non-Alcoholic Beverages – US, April 2012

• Non-Alcoholic Beverages Occasions – US, January 2014

• Non-Alcoholic Beverages at Restaurants – US, May 2013

Value figures throughout this report are at rsp (retail selling prices) excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Lightspeed GMI in partnership with Offerwise to explore Hispanic consumers’ perceptions of and attitudes toward non-alcoholic beverages. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in August 2014 among a sample of 1,000 Hispanic adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Please note that our surveys are conducted online in the participant’s language of choice (ie English or Spanish). Hispanics who are not online are not included in our survey results.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons NHCS (National Hispanic Consumer Study). The Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS was carried out during April 2013-June 2014, and the results are based on the sample of 24,073 adults aged 18+, including 7,448 Hispanics, with results weighted to represent the US adult population/US adult Hispanic population.

Note: When Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS results are presented by language spoken at home, the sum of the subsegments may not add to the total, due to the fact that some respondents answered “some other language.”

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

Expenditure estimates are derived from the CEX (Consumer Expenditure Survey), which is conducted annually by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The estimates are calculated using three-year rolling averages to reduce the volatility that can result from relatively small subsamples and items that are infrequently purchased.

• Market size estimates in this report are based on consumer data (estimated average expenditures aggregated to the total market), and may not be comparable to estimates in other reports that are based on point-of-sale data or retailer revenues.

• Note that the CEX measures spending by “consumer units” rather than households or individuals. See the Terms section for a definition of “consumer unit.”

The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report:

Generations are discussed within this report, and they are defined as:

* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers

Consumer unit (CU): The US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey measures spending by consumer units rather than households. A consumer unit is all related members of a household, or financially independent members of a household. A household may include more than one consumer unit. A consumer unit may comprise (1) all members of a household related by blood or by a legal arrangement such as marriage or adoption; (2) a financially independent individual living alone, sharing a house, as a roomer in a private home, or in living quarters of a hotel or motel; or (3) two or more individuals living together, pooling their income, and jointly making expenditure decisions. There are slightly more CUs than there are households in the US.

In this report Mintel includes analyses of the consumer data by level of acculturation. As defined by Merriam-Webster, acculturation is the cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. In other words, it is the process whereby Latinos learn about and embrace the mainstream culture while also maintaining their culture of origin. The acculturation algorithm developed by Mintel is based on 1) the language Hispanics speak at home and 2) the culture Hispanics consider that is most dominant in their lives – the American or the Hispanic culture. Results of the algorithm indicate that the bicultural segment is the largest segment, followed by the unacculturated segment. The smallest of all three is the acculturated segment. The following outlines some demographic information that helps put the acculturation groups in context.

• Unacculturated Hispanics (~30%) skew female and tend to have a lower household income. While they are distributed across all ages, they are more likely to be in the 25-34 age range. The majority are foreign-born. They tend to live in an urban setting.

• Bicultural Hispanics (~50%) skew toward males and tend to be younger. Bicultural Hispanics are distributed across all ages. They skew slightly US-born. They live primarily in urban settings. This is the segment that is projected to grow the most as the market as a whole becomes more bicultural.

• Acculturated Hispanics (~20%) tend to be young, overindexing among Hispanics aged 18-24. They tend to live in households with higher household incomes and are almost equally likely to be male or female. The majority are US-born. They are more likely than any of the other groups to live in the suburbs.

For further information about acculturation, please refer to the Acculturation section of this report.