What Latin American CPG Brands Get Wrong About US Market Entry

Your brand dominates in México, Brasil, or Chile. Strong sales. Loyal customers. Beautiful packaging that works.

Now you're ready for the US market. You've lined up distribution, handled compliance, adapted some copy. Other Latin American brands have made it here:why not you?

Then you launch and American consumers walk right past it.

The Conventional Approach (And Why Everyone Takes It)

The standard US market entry playbook makes perfect sense:

Logistics first: Find a distributor, navigate FDA/compliance, set up warehousing, negotiate shelf space.

Design adaptation: Translate packaging copy, maybe resize for American retail standards, adjust pricing for US margins.

Launch and learn: Get into stores, gather data, iterate based on feedback.

This approach works for... actually, it doesn't work. But everyone does it because it feels manageable. Logistics and design are concrete problems with clear solutions. You can see progress. You can check boxes.

The real problem is invisible until it's too late.

What Most Brands Miss: The Cultural Positioning Gap

Here's what thirty years building brands in both markets:and growing up between Chilean and American culture:has taught me: US market entry isn't a translation problem. It's a cultural positioning problem.

Categories aren't universal. They're culturally constructed. What your product means in Latin America and what it could mean to American consumers are often completely different things.

Take the word "artesanal."

In Latin America, when you see this on a package, you think: made by hand in small batches, recipe passed down through generations, the way your grandmother made it. It signals authenticity through tradition and family craft:like a freshly made empanada you buy still warm.

In the US, when Americans see "artisan" or "artesanal" on a CPG product, they're processing it through an entirely different cultural lens. They think: Whole Foods, $7 jam, Instagram-worthy packaging, wellness lifestyle, premium price point justified by "clean" ingredients. It's become a marketing category within a $50 billion natural products industry with very specific visual and pricing expectations.

Same word. Completely different mental framework for what it promises and what it costs.

A Mexican salsa using the word "artesanal" to signal family recipe authenticity might inadvertently position itself in the US premium wellness category:where consumers expect different flavor profiles, different ingredients (no preservatives, organic, non-GMO), and are willing to pay $6-8 instead of $3-4. If your product doesn't deliver on those unstated category expectations, Americans feel misled. If it does deliver but you're pricing at $3.50 because that's premium in Mexico, Americans assume it's inferior.

Or portion sizes. What positions as "premium, carefully crafted" in Latin America often reads as "overpriced, insufficient value" in US retail. Not because Americans don't appreciate quality, but because the cultural context for interpreting package size is fundamentally different.

You're not just translating words. You're translating the invisible frameworks people use to decide what products mean and whether they matter.

The Question No One Asks Before Designing

Before you finalize packaging, before you adapt messaging, answer this:

What category does your product actually compete in for American consumers?

Not the category you think you're in. The category Americans will put you in when they encounter your product on shelf.

A Mexican dulce de leche brand might think "spreads." But in the US, depending on how you position, you might actually compete in "dessert toppings," "baking ingredients," or "specialty indulgences."

Each is a different aisle. Different competitors. Different consumer mindset. Different pricing expectations. Different purchase triggers.

A Brazilian açaí brand has clear cultural meaning back home. In the US, that same product might position as "superfood," "better-for-you dessert," "post-workout recovery," or "wellness snack."

Which you choose determines everything:and most brands never consciously choose. They let retail buyers, distributors, or American consumers decide for them.

That's expensive.

The Upstream Solution: Cultural Repositioning Before Design

Successful Latin American brands in the US don't translate positioning. They create new positioning that makes sense within American consumer culture while staying true to what makes the product different.

This requires three things most brands skip:

1. Understand American Consumer Context

Not focus groups evaluating your product. Deeper research into how Americans think about your category. What are they looking for? What do they assume? What mental shortcuts are they using?

We're not asking "Do Americans like our product?" We're asking "What does our product mean to Americans before we tell them what it means?"

2. Define Your Strategic Position

You're not translating:you're potentially creating something new. This requires understanding both why you succeed in Latin America and what Americans need that they're not getting from current options.

Your Brazilian pharmaceutical heritage might be your whole story at home. In the US, it might be credibility that supports a different lead benefit.

Your Mexican family recipe might position as tradition at home. In the US, it might position as "authentic craft" in a wellness category.

Same product. Different cultural meaning.

3. Build the Strategic Narrative Before Creative Execution

Once you know your American category position, develop the logic that makes your product matter to US consumers. This becomes your creative brief.

Now when you design packaging, you're not guessing. You're expressing a strategy.

How This Plays Out: The Florax Story

Hebron, a leading Brazilian pharmaceutical company, had already launched Florax:their innovative liquid probiotic:into the US market. Results were lukewarm. They came to us for help.

Their assumption: Emphasize the same benefits that worked in Brazil:gut health, immune support, Brazilian pharmaceutical heritage.

What we found (working with our strategy partner, Provisor Marketing): American probiotic consumers (primarily Gen X women with families) were drowning in daily pill options. What stood out about Florax wasn't its Brazilian pharmaceutical credentials. It was the once-a-week portable liquid format that fit their hectic schedules.

The repositioning: We shifted Florax from "Brazilian pharmaceutical probiotic" to "on-the-go gut support":emphasizing flexibility and freedom rather than tradition and pharmaceutical authority.

The liquid format became the hero. Brazilian expertise became supporting credibility, not the lead message.

The packaging shift: Lifestyle-focused, personable ("Flo Pro tips"), whimsical illustrated characters showing people living active lives. Completely different visual language than the pharmaceutical-forward Brazilian version.

Result: 100% of stock sold out within one hour of launching on Amazon.

Same product. Same quality. Different cultural positioning.

What Changes When You Get This Right

When Latin American brands do the cultural positioning work before creative execution:

Category clarity: Your product finds its natural competitive set in American consumers' minds. You're not fighting for attention in the wrong category.

Messaging resonates: You're speaking to what Americans actually care about, not what you assume they care about based on your home market.

Authenticity preserved: You haven't watered down what makes you different. You've translated it into terms Americans understand.

Pricing makes sense: When category position is clear, pricing follows logically. When it's unclear, you're constantly defending price.

Retail pitch strengthens: Buyers understand exactly where you fit and why you'll move. Your distributor can tell your story clearly.

Sales cycles shorten: When positioning is muddled, every conversation is education. When it's clear, conversations move to partnership.

Common Questions

"Won't we lose brand equity if we change positioning for the US?"

You're not changing who you are:you're translating what you mean. Brand equity comes from what the brand represents to consumers, not from maintaining identical messaging across markets. Think of it like language: you don't lose meaning translating Spanish to English, you lose it with literal word-for-word translation that ignores context.

"We've tested with Hispanic consumers and they loved it."

That's valuable, but if you're reaching beyond Hispanic markets into broader US distribution, you need positioning that works for all target consumers. Many successful Latin American brands do start with Hispanic consumers then expand:that's a strategic choice, not a default.

"Our distributor says they handle US market entry:do we really need positioning work?"

Your distributor handles logistics and retail relationships. They don't do the strategic positioning work that determines whether consumers will understand and buy your product once it's on shelf. That's different expertise.

"Should we target Hispanic consumers first or go straight to mainstream?"

Depends on your product, category, and goals. The key is deciding strategically based on your specific situation, not defaulting to one approach because it feels safer.

"We have limited budget. Should we wait until we can afford a big launch?"

Opposite. If budget is tight, you can't afford to get positioning wrong. Strategic positioning work costs a fraction of what you'll lose to a failed launch that requires expensive repositioning later.

"Can't we just start with one positioning and adjust based on market feedback?"

You can, but when positioning is wrong, you can't tell what else is broken. Low sales could mean bad positioning, wrong price, poor packaging, incorrect retail placement, or a dozen other things. Get positioning clear first, then you'll actually know what's working when you iterate.

"How do we know if we need full repositioning versus just packaging adaptation?"

Ask yourself: Can you clearly articulate what category American consumers will put you in and why they'll choose you over existing options? If you can't answer confidently, or if your team gives different answers, you need positioning work. If you can answer it and it's validated by research, you might just need packaging adaptation.

"What's the ROI on cultural positioning work?"

Bad positioning costs you six months of poor sales, $50k-$150k in repositioning and repackaging, and damaged retailer relationships. Good positioning shows up in shorter sales cycles, pricing power, and marketing that actually works. Florax selling out in one hour is ROI. Not spending $100k recovering from a failed launch is also ROI.

"We're successful in our home market:why do we need outside perspective on positioning?"

Same reason you'd hire a translator for important documents rather than using Google Translate. You're experts on your product and home market; we bring pattern recognition from 30+ years across categories and between cultures. Plus, founders should be building the business, not decoding American consumer psychology.

The Real Work Starts Before the Creative Work

Beautiful packaging matters. Strong branding matters. Distribution partnerships matter.

None of it works if American consumers don't understand what your product means within their cultural context or why they should choose it over familiar options.

Latin American brands have real advantages entering the US market:authentic products, interesting stories, quality ingredients, often better formulations than American equivalents.

Those advantages only matter when positioned in terms Americans actually understand.

Growing up navigating between Chilean and American culture, I've spent my career helping brands make this translation. Not just words on packages, but the deeper cultural context that determines whether consumers will understand, value, and buy.

The question isn't whether Latin American brands can succeed in the US:Goya, Cacique, Bimbo, Jarritos, and dozens of others have proven they can.

The question is whether you'll do the strategic positioning work before the creative work, or learn these lessons expensively after launch.

That's the difference between brands that launch and brands that last.

Considering US market entry for your Latin American brand?

We offer a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your specific situation:no pitch, just honest perspective on whether cultural positioning work makes sense for you.

Schedule here or contact: pato@gelcomm.com

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