 |
|
|
 Business News | December 2005 
Arizona Stores are Wooing Customers From Mexico
 Susan Carroll - azcentral.com
| | Mexican shoppers spend an estimated $1 million a day in Tucson alone, including here at the Tucson Mall. |
Tucson, AZ - Aracely Flores Paz, a pretty 22-year-old with oversize Jackie-O sunglasses, saunters through the food court at Tucson Mall, completely at home.
She and a 19-year-old friend, Alba Diaz Varron, order Subway sandwiches and start outlining their shopping list. Flores wants one of those cute new jackets with the furry fringe. Diaz wants the perfect black purse.
They are 4½ hours away from their hometown of Hermosillo, Sonora, but they make it clear that this mall is their mall. And that makes Tucson business leaders very happy.
This holiday season, Arizona retailers are wooing Mexican shoppers like never before by catering to their habits, using multimedia advertising and even putting on fashion shows. The coveted demographic spends an estimated $1 million a day in Tucson alone, according to the Tucson-Mexico Trade Office.
Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management, found that Mexican tourists brought close to $1.6 billion into the Arizona economy in 2001, the most recent year for which statewide data are available. And Tucson has a distinct advantage over Phoenix because Mexican nationals can simply use Border Crossing Cards (also called laser visas) for short visits to Arizona's border region.
Still, shopping centers from Tucson to Scottsdale are competing for Mexicans' business, some offering exclusive discounts to loyal shoppers and Spanish 101 classes for employees. One upscale mall in north Tucson has even started airing infomercials in Mexico.
"It's definitely our Number 1 inbound market in Tucson," said Jill Harlow, group marketing manager for General Growth Properties, which runs Tucson Mall. She estimates that about one-third of Tucson Mall sales are to Mexican clients like Flores and Diaz.
Big spenders
Flores has been coming to Tucson Mall with her family for as long as she can remember, she said. Every few months, her whole family would come up and shop for back-to-school items in the fall, swimsuits in the summer.
As Flores got older and could drive, she came up more often to shop, frequenting trendy stores she couldn't find at home, like Charlotte Russe, which gears its merchandise toward teenagers.
On a recent trip to Tucson, Flores and Diaz spent all morning at Ross Dress for Less before heading over to Tucson Mall, stopping for Subway sandwiches and going straight to Charlotte Russe.
The mall is so popular with their peers in Hermosillo that Flores spotted a girl she knows from back home in the food court. Diaz changed into new jeans she bought at Ross before they went into the mall.
Flores and Diaz are coveted customers in part because they are loyal. They always go to Tucson Mall, a traditional mall northwest of the University of Arizona, each time they come to southern Arizona.
Harlow said the mall has worked hard to build a loyal Mexican client base. In addition to its discount program, dubbed Club Estrella (Star Club), the mall participates in a Tucson program dubbed "Vamos a Tucson," designed to help businesses get "Mexico ready," Harlow said.
When the mall was remodeled recently, General Growth did so with Mexican clients in mind, she said, adding cushy chairs in common areas for families. The mall also offers Spanish 101 classes for employees, she added.
Most Mexican clients at the Tucson malls are looking for things that are not available at home, Harlow said.
"They shop for designer clothing, accessories and toys that they can't get in Mexico," she said.
Flores, a college student, spent just under an hour in Charlotte Russe before putting a white jacket with furry trim, two pairs of jeans, two tops, three pairs of earrings and a pair of gloves onto the checkout counter. She paid $146.29 in cash, making her total spending for the day (including Ross and a Tucson Wal-Mart) more than $396, with hours left to go in her shopping spree.
"Personally, I don't really like stores in Hermosillo," she said. "They don't have much selection, and I don't like going to a party and seeing someone else in the same clothes."
Diaz found a faux-leather black purse but decided at the last minute that it wasn't perfect and put it back on the rack.
Increasing competition
Although Tucson has been a shopping mecca for wealthy and middle-class Mexicans for decades, Arizona businesses are clearly in the midst of a battle for customers.
Stores in Tucson have an edge over the Valley because of the visa zone that allows Mexicans who can prove they have significant financial and familial ties to apply for border crossing cards that allow them to travel 75 miles north of the border for up to 30 days. To go north to Phoenix, they would have to apply for a different visa that requires more rigorous inspection at the border.
Still, Valley businesses are vying to get a piece of the market, namely Sonora, which has 2.3 million people.
Scottsdale Fashion Square has put up a billboard on a popular Sonoran highway. The upscale La Encantada shopping center in north Tucson airs infomercials in Mexico on Telemax between the telenovelas and nightly news. The shopping center also participated in a fashion show in October in Hermosillo featuring more than 60 outfits modeled by women of status, dignitaries' wives, in a charity fashion show.
"The great thing we have found is that the Mexican visitor is very loyal," said Kate Cavaliere, senior manager of tourism for Westcor, which owns La Encantada and Scottsdale Fashion Square. "And the more familiar they are with you personally, the more inclined they are to visit your business. So it's really more about establishing relationships down there."
The open-air La Encantada mall opened in 2003 and features exclusive stores, including Apple, Crate & Barrel and Coach. They expect the upcoming opening of Tiffany & Co. to bring more clients from Mexico, who otherwise would have to drive to the Valley.
Cavaliere said for the more affluent Mexican shoppers, it's mainly about the labels.
"They come and shop the brand names," she said. "They're looking for Louis Vuitton and Coach. And, gosh, they love Cachι. And one of their favorite stores is Bebe. They absolutely love Bebe."
Alex Griffiths, 36, came up from Hermosillo for an afternoon on a recent Friday with a friend and walked out of La Encantada with bags from Bebe and Coach.
She also favors Banana Republic and Abercrombie & Fitch for her children.
"And Guess. It's the most popular with our kids," she added. "They love Guess."
Cavaliere said the Mexican market share for La Encantada is growing, estimating that they comprise 40 percent of out-of-town visitors.
"We do everything we can to make them feel so welcome because we love having them here," she said.
"They know that they can come up, and they're going to be given the VIP treatment." |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us