Survey Looks at Online Habits of U.S. Latinos

Most Latino Internet users in the United States prefer English-language Web sites or have no language preference, but nevertheless are strong consumers of Spanish-language music and books, a survey released Wednesday showed.

The survey offers a first peek at the shopping habits and language preferences of the estimated 5 million U.S. Latinos online. A flurry of portals and Web sites have launched to court that market in the last year.

The study was conducted by Research & Research of Puerto Rico for Boston-based Espanol.com, a Spanish-language Web retailer.

Although 63% of the nearly 2,000 Latino Internet users surveyed were foreign-born, only 8% said they preferred Spanish-language Web sites. Forty-one percent said they preferred English-language sites, and 51% said they were bilingual and indifferent to the language issue when surfing or making online purchases. The vast majority also used English-language general-market search engines, although a small percentage used Spanish-language portals.

Seventy-six percent said they purchased products online, 62% in the last year, with software, music and books leading the list. Those in the U.S. for 10 years or more were more likely to shop online. Average annual income of the online Latino was $47,410, and the online Latino shopper had an average annual income of $51,100.

Despite English proficiency and preference, respondents showed a keen interest in Spanish-language merchandise. Of those surveyed, 49% reported recently purchasing salsa music online. And 45% of cyber-shoppers said they were Spanish-language book readers.

Kyle McNamara, founder and chief executive of Espanol.com, said the results “are a strong endorsement of our culturally specific business model.” The company, which launched last November, is planning an English-language site and is aiming for self-described bilinguals with strong interest in Latin culture.