US retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot advertise to America's Hispanic consumers on Spanish-language television. Some, such as JC Penney, operate bilingual customer service centres that can take orders over the phone.

But online shopping, which now accounts for about 7 per cent of US retail spending, has largely remained an English language experience - because getting a rapidly changing e-commerce website to speak Spanish as well entails much more than hiring a few translators.