Sears expands outreach to Latino market

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., and SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Sears Holdings announced that it is reaching out to the growing Latino market with the launch of Facebook.com/SearsLatino as well as its Twitter handle @SearsLatino.

"The Latino market is a vitally important customer segment for us. Given its population growth and high adoption of social media, this is a natural extension of our online initiatives," said Oscar Castro, director/GM international e-commerce. "We want to create an engaging community for all of our Latino customers, whether they prefer English or Spanish, and whether they are in California, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil or elsewhere in the world. We want to embrace the diversity within the community and facilitate interesting conversations that will help them enjoy shopping with us even more."

According to the company, the Facebook page will serve as a way of connecting Latino fans of Sears. Conversations on the page will occur in both English and Spanish and will serve as a forum to engage with U.S. Hispanics and customers in Latin America and Puerto Rico.

In order to attract new followers to its Facebook page, Sears said it has teamed up with Whirlpool to offer exclusive deals and prizes to its fans:

The Whirlpool Washer and Dryer Sweepstakes launches July 25. Fans can enter for a chance to win a Whirlpool washer and dryer. One winner will be selected at random.

The Whirlpool Kitchen Suite Recipe Contest launches Sept. 9. Fans can submit their favorite comfort food recipes. Ten finalists will be selected. The finalist with the most votes will win the Whirlpool kitchen suite.

A recipe gallery launches Oct. 3. All recipes submitted to the Whirlpool Kitchen Suite Recipe Contest will be available to fans via a tab on Facebook.