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Instead of sitting back and watching minority shoppers go elsewhere, Best Buy is launching an all-out attempt to lure in Latino and Korean shoppers into their stores in areas with large populations of these shoppers. Brilliant.

Best Buy had a store near Los Angeles' Koreatown, yet only had two employees who spoke the language. They've tripled that number and started advertising in the local Korean newspaper.

According to Best Buy executives, the recently launched Spanish-language version of their website has more activity than the original Best Buy website.  They've signed up Cuahtemoc Blanco, the Mexican soccer star as a spokesman, and increased Spanish signage at a large number of its stores.

Why the emphasis on this often-overlooked demographic?

According to a story in the LA Times, Latinos spent more than $870 billion on consumer products, expected to grow to $1.3 trillion by 2015. Wow.  

Best Buy is hiring Hispanic employees, creating training videos in multiple languages, and in general, making the shopping experience better for their customers.

These days, that's good advice for any business owner. —Leslie Shapiro

LA Times