FYI: Piper Jaffray's "Taking Stock With Teens" Research Survey Summary

Press release is HERE.

 

Total teen spending on fashion declined nearly 20 percent on a year-to-year basis, indicating a “discretionary recession”.  While the fashion category represents 41 percent of the total teen budget in the spring 2008 survey and teenagers continue to spend a significant amount of money in this category

Key findings from the survey in the fashion, beauty and personal care, home furnishing, video game, digital media and restaurant categories also include the following:

• Hollister remains the No. 1 preferred brand by teens, as ranked by mindshare, followed by West Coast Brands (e.g. Pacific Sunwear, Volcom, Quicksilver, Zumiez), American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch and Forever 21. Specifically among brands ranked by girls, Hollister maintained its “most preferred” position, while West Coast Brands continue to resonate as a favorite among young men.
• A bright spot in consumer spending trends points to an increase in spending from the fall 2007 results among teen girls in the beauty category. Overall, spending by parents was down in both the apparel and beauty categories. In addition, privately-held, Swedish-based IKEA was the top choice among teens followed by Pottery Barn/PB Teen in the home furnishing retailer or cataloger category.
• By gender, electronics represented 10 percent of total budget for young men and 4 percent for juniors this spring and 7 percent overall, up slightly from 6 percent last year. Spending in the video game system category increased significantly for young men to 13 percent from 9 percent last fall.
• In the digital media category, 86 percent of the students who own an MP3 player indicated that they also own some form of an iPod, which is an increase from 82 percent last spring. Although iTunes continues to dominate market share at 81 percent, 61 percent of the students surveyed indicated they download music illegally, compared to 64 percent at this time last year. In addition, 6 percent of the students surveyed indicate they own an Apple iPhone, which is double the market share found in the fall 2007 survey; 9 percent expect to buy an iPhone in the next six months.
• Starbucks continued to be the clear brand leader across the board in both the school and online survey. Premium coffee is potentially a growing category among teens as Dunkin’s Donuts appeared in the top ten brands for the first time in the school survey. Chipotle and McDonald’s remained in second and third places in the school survey, while Olive Garden and Applebee’s remained in second and third in the online survey. However, Chipotle continues to gain teen market share, ranking among the top ten brands in the online survey for the first time. In total, approximately 45 percent of the students surveyed believe they have spent more money this year at restaurants than last year.