Amazon to Offer Website in Spanish

Amazon.com has started to roll out the first new language on its website since the original site's creation over 20 years ago. A spokeswoman for the Seattle-based online retailer told CNET last week that the website has begun adding Spanish. The change will let the United States’ more than 40 million native Spanish speakers and over 10 million bilingual Spanish speakers toggle between English and Spanish on Amazon.com. The U.S. is now the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico.

Total Retail's Take: To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken Amazon this long to make its website available in Spanish. The buying power of Hispanics in the U.S. has been well-documented, and it's a market that many retailers have been trying to capture. According to Nielsen, U.S. Hispanic buying power is forecast to reach $1.7 trillion by 2020. Furthermore, Hispanics represent almost 18 percent of the U.S. population, and they’re expected to continue showing growth. While Amazon may be late to the game in targeting Hispanic consumers, I have little doubt that the online giant will be able to make up ground quickly.