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Dell speaks Spanish to U.S. consumers

Computer maker launches Spanish-language sales and support to U.S. consumers as it seeks to tap into rapidly shifting demographic changes.

Dawn Kawamoto Former Staff writer, CNET News
Dawn Kawamoto covered enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News.
Dawn Kawamoto

Dell announced on Wednesday that it's offering Spanish-language sales and support to U.S. consumers.

The computer maker, through its Spanish-language sales-and-support site and toll-free number, provides full-service sales support, customer service, and financing and financial documentation in Spanish.

The move, designed to help the company tap into rapidly shifting demographic changes, comes roughly six months after the company launched a Spanish-language blog, where its management, customer care, engineering, and personnel departments could gather customer input and discuss technology trends.

In the United States, an estimated 32.2 million households, with residents ages 5 and older, speak Spanish in the home, according to the U.S. Census' 2005 American Community Survey. That represents one in eight U.S. households, the survey notes.

And while Hispanics in the States accounted for 15 percent, or 44.3 million, of the total population in 2006, those figures are expected to more than double to 102.6 million, or 24 percent of the total population, by 2050, according to the Census.

Dell, surprisingly, is kicking off its U.S. Spanish marketing campaign in Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston. California, home to the largest population of Hispanics in the country, followed by Texas, will see Dell's campaign get under way sometime after January, when the PC maker rolls its Spanish-language marketing out nationally.

A Dell representative noted that the company is testing out its "creative" in Los Angeles, a mega media market, before it launches the marketing campaign in Southern California. And what is "creative"? That translates into the "right message," image, and medium.