Reuters/David McNew
Hispanics aren't spending like they used to, perhaps in light of President Trump's rhetoric on immigration.
According to both a retail CEO and analysts, Hispanic shoppers are spending less in 2017 than in previous years - and the industry is sounding the alarm."The Hispanic consumer in the US is shopping much less," Target CEO Brian Cornell said during the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference Tuesday. "Particularly among border towns in the US, you're seeing a change in behavior."
This tracks with what others in the retail community are saying. NPD Group's analysts told Bloomberg that they're seeing an 8% decrease in Hispanic customers' overall spending.
NPD sports industry analyst Matt Powell says that the slowdown is disproportionately impacting the sportswear market.
"Sales of sneakers to Hispanics in the U.S. have slowed dramatically from the previous trend," Powell wrote in June, noting that there there was a dramatic drop in the high-teens when compared to last year.
Why is this happening? According to analysts, it's the Trump effect, which has sprung out of the president's strong rhetoric on immigration.
"There's concern about going out in an environment where you could be deported," NPD analyst Marshal Cohen told Bloomberg.
Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, echoed those sentiments at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington in June.
Immigrants are "not going out and shopping, they are staying home, they are afraid if they go out they may not come home," he said.