Teen spending falls; fave brands include Nike, Chick-fil-A, TikTok and...
Teenagers have put their spending on hold.
Teens “self-reported” annual spending dropped to $2,213, down 6% year over year and down 1% on average in the past 10 years, according to investment bank Piper Sandler Cos.’ 50th semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” fall survey in partnership with DECA. Nearly 11,000 teens were surveyed, with average age of 15.7 and average household income at $69, 527. (The fall survey was conducted Aug. 8 – Sept. 22.)
“On a positive note, looking at wallet share for the upper income teen, clothing grew 1% year over year driven by females, while footwear share held steady after a decline last spring,” said Anna Andreeva, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Sandler.
The Piper Sandler survey offers an inside look at how thousands of U.S. teens are spending their money, revealing their favorite brands across a number of retail categories and views on the economy. Notably, 62% of the surveyed teens feels economic trends are getting worse.
Clothing and footwear
Nike continues to dominate as the top clothing brand for teens with Hollister ranking number two and Brandy Melville a distant third among upper income teens.
In footwear, Nike held strong as the top brand, followed by Adidas and then New Balance. Notably, On Running overtook Hoka for the first time in the past six survey reads, to place fourth and fifth, respectively.
Amazon remains the number one shopping website by a wide margin for upper-income teens.
Beauty
The core beauty wallet declined 2% year-over-year to $336. Sephora remains the number one favorite beauty shopping destination followed by Ulta at number two. Target is back to the third spot, in line with its historic trend.
E.l.f. Cosmetics continues to dominate as the number one cosmetics brand among teens. Rare Beauty is a distant second.
Technology and social media
TikTok ranked number one for teens’ favorite app with 46% reporting it as their top choice, followed by Instagram with 31% and Snapchat at 14%.
Netflix held on as the number one choice for daily video consumption with 30% with YouTube a close second at 27%. Disney+ trailed behind with only 7%.
Apple’s iPhone remains the leader with 87% of teens reporting they own an iPhone and 17% of them are expecting to upgrade to an iPhone 17 this upcoming fall/winter.
Restaurants
Chick-fil-A holds strong in its number one spot as the preferred chain restaurant among teens, followed by McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Celebrities and influencers
The top-rated celebrity was Adam Sandler, followed by LeBron James, Drake and Taylor Swift. Teens reported their favorite influencer as MrBeast and in second was LeBron James, who held the distinction of both celebrity and influencer.
