Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Coca-Cola’s recent Superbowl ad made headlines with singers performing America the Beautiful in seven languages. Whether or not you loved it, the ad shone a spotlight on the increasingly multilingual population of the United States, with an estimated 60 million people whose primary language isn’t English. Retailers are finding they shouldn’t ignore America’s growing Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog-speaking consumers. According to the United States Census Bureau, one in every five residents speaks a language other than English at home. Not surprisingly, most people prefer to browse the internet and make purchases in their native tongue. While Spanish is clearly the largest minority language, the next most widely spoken are Asian languages: Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese. And Asian-Americans are one of the fastest-growing population groups, with 58 per cent growth between 2000 and 2013 (according to research by Nielsen). They now make up 5.6 per cent of the population, or 17 million people. Only around a quarter of these speak English at home. According to research by Nielsen, Asian-American consumers’ income and spending is significantly higher than average. Annual household spending is 19 per cent more than overall households, with higher spending on food, clothing, and insurance. This market is particularly important for ecommerce companies. Nielsen found that 77 per cent of Asian-American households made internet purchases in the past year, compared with only 61 per cent in the general population. Coca-Cola isn’t the only big name to recognise the importance of reaching out to non-English speaking customers in the United States. Many brands took advantage of the Chinese New Year festivities this month to grab a share of this lucrative market. The Spring Festival, which ended last week, is one of the world’s biggest events for shopping and travelling. Many major brands such as Walmart, McDonalds, Bloomingdales, and Citibank developed targeted campaigns. Luxury Fifth Avenue stores such as Gucci, Fendi and Tiffany all had red-themed displays (a traditionally lucky color) and special products for the Year of the Horse. As well as domestic consumers, they were aimed at the thousands of Chinese tourists who take advantage of the New Year holiday to travel abroad. However, many brands have been slow to develop their online offerings in other languages. Some big retailers such as BestBuy have already seen a significant return on investment from dedicated Spanish-language websites. And a few examples of stores with Chinese-language websites include Gap, Walmart and Apple, but they are still a small minority. As America becomes more multilingual, companies risk missing out on growing sectors of the market. Speaking the right language is part of providing great customer service – and keeping them coming back. Feature Image by Patrick Kwan Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Author: Jay Leonard Jay is a UK-based cryptocurrency expert, specialising in fundamental analysis and medium to long term investments. Jay has a great deal of hands-on experience in analysing financial markets and performing technical analysis. Jay is currently focusing on the institutional adoption of cryptocurrency and what it means for the future of … View full profile ›More by this author:Cameo CEO Steven Galanis Wallet Hacked – $231k Worth of NFTs StolenMastercard CFO sees Growth Opportunities in CryptoMarvin Inu Trending on Twitter – Is Tamadoge Next to Pump?