Gen Z Market Preferences Revealed
Key Findings from a Generation Z survey of 8,000 US teens
IMAGE CREDIT: Nick Roskelly
Piper Jaffray Companies, an investment bank and asset management firm, completed its 37th semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens® survey, which highlights discretionary spending trends and brand preferences amongst 8,000 teens across 47 states with an average age of 16. Generation Z, which contributes approximately $830 billion to US retail sales annually*, represents an influential consumer group where wallet size and allocation provide a proxy for category interest.
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“Our Spring Teen Survey further validated several characteristics of this digitally-native demographic; 83% of teens have an iPhone, 50% claim Amazon as their favorite website and video game consumption hit an all-time high in our survey,” said Erinn Murphy, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst. “Broadly, casualization of fashion continues and footwear is gaining wallet share. Brands lululemon and Vans hit survey peak share. Within beauty, ULTA was the No. 1 preferred destination—unseating competitor Sephora for the first time.”
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SPRING 2019 KEY FINDINGS
Spending & Shopping Behavior
• Food continues to be male teens’ No. 1 spending category (23%), clothing is female teens’ No. 1 wallet share (25%)
• Male spending on video games reaches a new peak at 14%
• 90% of female teens preferred shopping for beauty in-store vs. online
• 80% of teens say they get their beauty tips from influencers – Kylie Jenner and James
Charles listed as favorite beauty influencers on social media
* Fashion Nova steps into top 5 shopping websites for females; StockX moves up for males (No. 9)
BRAND PREFERENCES
• Athletic brands remain strong; Vans and lululemon each achieved new survey highs
• Vans hits highest level in survey history as a favorite footwear brand at 20%, the closest any brand has been to Nike in years
• Chick-fil-A remains No. 1 restaurant for 3 surveys
lululemon hits all-time survey high (No. 2 preferred athletic apparel brand, No. 8 overall apparel)
• ULTA overtakes Sephora as preferred beauty destination for the first time at 31%
• Mario Badescu continues its upward trend, rising to No. 2 (versus No. 6 last spring)
iPhone ownership peaks at 83% and smart watch ownership is up significantly at 27%
The Piper Jaffray Taking Stock With Teens® survey is a semi-annual research project that gathers input from 8,000 teens with an average age of 16 years. Discretionary spending patterns, fashion trends, technology, and brand and media preferences are assessed through surveying a geographically diverse subset of high schools across the US Since the project began in 2001, Piper Jaffray has surveyed more than 170,000 teens and collected over 44 million data points on teen spending.
* Source: Fung Global Retail & Technology
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The Piper Jaffray Taking Stock With Teens® survey is a semi-annual research project that gathers input from thousands of teens with an average age of 16.3 years. Discretionary spending patterns, fashion trends, technology, and brand and media preferences are assessed through surveying a geographically diverse subset of high schools across the US Since the project began in 2001, Piper Jaffray has surveyed over 170,000 teens and collected over 44 million data points on teen spending.
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