We couldn't have planned it any better if we tried. On the morning of the first day of our seventh annual Hispanic Retail 360 Summit in August, lying right there on the floor outside my hotel room door, was a copy of USA Today with a cover story made-to-order.

"Census Tracks 20 Years of Sweeping Change" blared the headline, which went on to point out that Hispanic population growth has been greater than anticipated.

According to the cover story, "The end of the first decade of the 21st century marks a turning point in the nation's social, cultural, geographic, racial and ethnic fabric. It's a shift so profound that it reveals an America that seemed unlikely a mere 20 years ago — one that will influence the nation for years to come in everything from who is elected to run the country, states and cities, to what type of houses will be built and where."

One of the most significant shifts has been toward ethnic diversity, which seems to have happened faster than experts predicted. The article went on to note:

• One of the most significant demographic trends of the past 20 years is the explosive growth of Hispanics. Now at 50 million — almost one in six Americans — Hispanics have more than doubled their numbers since 1990.

• The Hispanic boom has spread far beyond traditional immigrant gateways such as California and Florida, altering the American landscape in states such as Kansas and North Carolina.

• Just more than 1 percent of North Carolina's 6.6 million residents were Hispanic in 1990. As of 2010, almost 7 percent of the state's 9.5 million residents were Hispanic.

Of course, most of the 600-plus attendees at this year's Hispanic Retail 360 conference in La Jolla, Calif., were well aware of these statistics. Their attendance at the conference alone showed them to be believers in the power of the Hispanic consumer market.

For three days, Aug. 10 to 12, these executives went on store tours, attended informational sessions, networked and shared their thoughts, views and insights on meeting the needs of this growing consumer demographic.

As Geoscape CEO Cesar Melgoza put it, this new majority-minority is really the new mainstream, and retailers and CPG companies need to treat it that way both in understanding these consumers and devoting the appropriate resources to them.

This issue contains a recap of the 2011 Hispanic Retail 360 Summit (see page 26). Of course, there's no way we can capture in a few magazine pages the entirety of the great information conveyed during the store tours of three retailers, nine general sessions, 16 separate concurrent sessions and four interactive working group roundtables. So, stay tuned for continued coverage of the event in future issues of Hispanic Retail 360 magazine.

Don Longo
dlongo@stagnitomedia.com
Editorial Director
Stagnito Media