Teen spending falls and more Gen Z brand trends to know

Here’s some bad news for brands trying to reach Gen Z: Teen spending has fallen for the first time since before the pandemic, according to a new report. Investment bank Piper Sandler, which regularly surveys teenagers on brand preferences and spending habits, found that self-reported per-person teen spending has fallen 1% to $2,316 from a year earlier and is down 4% from the spring of 2023. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs “Our survey points to initial signs of a slowdown in teen spending. Inflation reached its highest mindshare in terms of political and social issues, right behind the environment,” said Edward Yruma, a senior research analyst at Piper Sandler. The 46th semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” report is based on findings from a survey of 9,193 teenagers with an average age of 15.7 years old, conducted from Sept. 4 to Sept. 27. It covers teenagers’ favorite brands, influencers and more. The latest edition touched on hot-button cultural issues from Ye (the rapper formerly known as Kanye West) to sustainability. Below, some more takeaways from the report. Cash App me Today’s teens don’t want their parents to Venmo them for money—they prefer Cash App. Square’s peer-to-peer money transfer app outranked PayPal’s Venmo, with 50% of teens listing Cash App as their top choice. Only 36% preferred Venmo, the app largely popular with millennials. Cash App has been courting Gen Z for months, with efforts including a spring campaign starring college athletes and a downtown New York City pop-up shop in June that promoted Cash App’s apparel line, complete with bucket hats galore. Kanye still popular Despite the rapper’s recent antisemitic remarks, those surveyed ranked Kanye West, who is now known as Ye, fifth in a list of “top celebrities.” In good news for those who sided with Taylor Swift at the 2009 “MTV Video Music Awards,” Swift ranked first, followed by Adam Sandler, Drake and Ryan Reynolds. Watch United Airlines cinema ad for Taylor Swift's concert film Swift—who continues to enjoy buzz from her “Eras” concert tour and romance with the Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce—also ranked third on the report’s list of top influencers, followed by TikTok sensation Alix Earle and MrBeast, who recently drew headlines for a deal that will put the logo of his food brand on Charlotte Hornets jerseys. The lip gloss is poppin’ Some have called 2023 the “Year of the girl” due to phenomena such as the “Barbie” movie’s box office success, the “girlhood” trend on TikTok and Swift’s concert tour bolstering the national economy. Cosmetics spending for teens increased accordingly, with teens spending an average of $127 per year on cosmetics—the highest level since 2019, according to the report, which found that e.l.f. remained the top cosmetics brand for female teens, increasing 13 points year over year. All that glitters is not green Despite teens listing the environment as their top social cause, the fast-fashion e-commerce clothing brand Shein showed up in the report not once but twice: Once as teens’ second-favorite shopping website, and again as their fourth-favorite clothing brand. Amazon was ranked the No. 1 shopping site and the top-ranked clothing brand was Nike. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Teen spending falls and more Gen Z brand trends to know

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