The Nature of Shopping for Gen Z

How much are specific 'generations'.  Still have my doubts about how different the generations are. Still worth paying attention to understand measures involved.

Shopping for Gen Z     George Anderson in Retailwire with expert commentary.

The 35th semi-annual “Taking Stock with Teens” survey from Piper Jaffray Companies shows that teenage members of Generation Z have increased their purchasing in the past year, and a slightly higher percentage of the time they spend shopping is taking place online.

Teens have increased their spending by six percent from the fall and by two percent overall from last year. Erinn Murphy, senior research analyst for global lifestyle brands at Piper Jaffray, said the increase in teen spending “mirrors the economic expansion we are experiencing broadly.”  The average amount of time teens engaged in online shopping grew to 19 percent, up from 17 percent.

By a wide margin, the place that teens prefer to shop is Amazon.com. Forty-four percent of the kids surveyed named Amazon as their top online shopping spot, up from 40 percent last year. As a point of comparison, Nike is the second most popular online destination among this group at eight percent. American Eagle (four percent), Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 (both at three percent) follow.

Food remains the favorite category in which teens spend their money. Teens from households with an average annual income of $100,000 spent 24 percent of their funds on food. Those from average-income homes (earning $56,000) spent 21 percent of their total the same way, CNBC reports.

Chick-fil-A and Starbucks are the two favorite restaurants choices for teens. The chicken chain (13 percent) is tops among upper-income teens and the coffee giant number two at 12 percent. Starbucks is tops among average-income kids at nine percent, followed by Chick-fil-A at eight percent.

Clothing follows food as the second most popular category among teens, with athletic and casual streetwear brands gaining favor. The top clothing brands for Gen Z teens are Nike (23 percent), American Eagle (10 percent), Adidas (six percent), Forever 21 (five percent) and Urban Outfitters (five percent). Nike is also tops among footwear brands (42 percent) followed by Vans (16 percent), Adidas (14 percent) Converse (four percent) and DSW (three percent).

Beauty products among girls and video games among boys represent the third most popular categories determined by gender. Sephora is the top beauty destination among teens, with 44 percent shopping there, followed by Ulta (28 percent), Target (11 percent), CVS and Walmart at three percent.
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