The Hispanic population continues to grow and their buying power has started to attract serious attention from some of the biggest names in retail. Now, it appears that Target will be stepping forward to tap into a market that has been traditionally underrepresented in advertising.

"We are going to source dominant presentations of Latino and Hispanic merchandise through the entire store," Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel observes. "It's a big effort that we have internally to really stretch ourselves and jump way out in front."

Steinhafel believes that Hispanics are a critical demographic for the company moving forward, especially in states such as California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. The U.S. Census Bureau states that roughly 52 million Hispanics live in the United States, and that figure is only growing.

Target plans on incorporating a wide variety of Hispanic culture into their marketing campaign. From food to clothing, they want to offer up a whole laundry list of products aimed at culture hailing from south of the border.

"Style, beauty, music, food are extremely important to that segment," notes Nydia Sahagun, a multicultural-marketing manager for Target. "So, we definitely ensure we focus our efforts around that, especially in top Hispanic markets."

This approach to the Hispanic community represents a sharp change in focus for the retailer. Generally, Target has been known to target middle class white families, with little involvement in cultural traditions. Those times appear to be changing however.

"There's a big difference among Latino communities," said Steinhafel. "There's Cubans, Mexicans ... We have to really lean in on all aspects. In the past, we would do things like put rice cookers on an end cap and say, 'Yep, we support the Hispanic community.' Going forward, it means not just the front end cap, it's the whole 24-foot side [of the aisle]."

To implement their new strategy, Target held a three month of review of several marketing firms at the end of last year. Eventually, they hired the firm LatinWorks to take over their targeting of the Hispanic demographic. Target currently ranks 29th among the largest advertisers in Hispanic media, spending $45.6 million in 2011.