Add up the headcount at a baby shower, says Lizette Williams, and you will understand that new arrivals in Hispanic-American families are a big deal. A Puerto Rican mother from New York, her own party four years ago attracted so many well-wishers that the shower of clothes and nappies became a downpour. All told there were 100 guests. “Just think about that,” she says. “Think about the kind of the stature in which it’s held. This is a major life event. It’s almost like a second wedding.”
According to Nielsen, a research group, Hispanic-American mothers spend a higher proportion of their shopping budgets on newborns than other Americans. And that effect is multiplied by the birth rate: Hispanic women are having more children than their non-Hispanic peers.
Little wonder, then, that baby product makers are eager to cater to Latino parents. But doing so is often harder than executives imagine, because the meaning of being Hispanic-American is becoming more complex.