American Gen-Z spending hits 8-year low; Nike top ranking brand: report

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Oct 15, 2019

Investment bank Piper Jaffray has released the results of its 38th semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” study, showing that Gen-Z spending has decreased 4 percent year-over-year with cosmetics spending for females hitting a 2019-survey low.  
 

 
The study, which rallied spending and brand preferences from 9,500 teens across 42 U.S. states with an average age of 15.8 years, found that female Gen-Zers are increasingly shifting their spending from handbags and cosmetics, to eating out and footwear and apparel purchases.

The report said cosmetics spending was down 21 percent year-over-year, while clothing dominated female teens’ top wallet share at 27 percent. Food continued to be male teens’ top spending category at 23 percent. 

As footwear spending climbed, Nike regained share as the number 1 footwear brand at 42 percent, while Vans secured second place with 20 percent and Adidas held firm in third with 13 percent. Converse and Foot Locker rounded out the top five with 4 and 3 percent, respectively.
 
Among apparel brands, Nike again had the top spot at 23 percent. American Eagle held second place in the rankings with 10 percent, followed by Adidas at 6 percent, and Hollister and PacSun, which each held 4 percent. 
 
Still, Crocs gained notable share as the number 7 preferred footwear brand, behind Birkenstock. As did Lululemon, which hit an all-time survey high as the number 7 preferred athletic apparel brand, compared to number 11 in fall 2018. 
 
Meanwhile, Ulta maintained the top spot as preferred beauty destination, against Sephora for the second survey in a row.
 
It was also worth noting how Gen-Z was shopping, as well as their purchasing behaviors and influences, with 89 percent of female teens saying they use online influencers as a source of discovery for beauty brands and trends. 
 
Kylie Jenner ranked number 2 “top influencer” and is the only beauty influencer in the top 10 this fall. 
 
“Our Fall Teen Survey continues to validate several characteristics of this digitally-native demographic: 83 percent of teens have an iPhone, 52 percent of teens claim Amazon as their favorite online shopping website, and we saw an acceleration of VSCO and TikTok mentions,” said Erinn Murphy, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst.
 
Teen video consumption on YouTube was also ahead that of Netflix at 37 percent, while Netflix was 35 percent. 
 
Generation Z contributes approximately $830 billion to U.S. retail sales annually.