Survey: Teen Girls Expect To Spend More On Clothes, Accessories

U.S. teen girls say they’ll increase spending on clothing and accessories in the near future — just two data points in a twice-yearly teen spending forecast from investment bank Piper Sandler.

The spring 2021 survey of about 7,000 teenagers averaging 16 years old found that girls plan to increase spending on clothing by 9 percent this year compared to 2020. Boys said they’ll spend less this year than last. The No. 1 fashion brand among teenagers was Nike, which was also the No. 1 footwear brand among the teens surveyed.

Spending on handbags had declined in the last couple of years, but the teens said they’ll revive it this year. Teen girls said they’ll spend more on skin care than makeup in 2021, and overall will slightly increase spending on beauty products. The top shopping destination for beauty items by teenagers was Ulta, followed by Sephora.

As for where they’ll spend money when online shopping, the teens’ top choice was Amazon, followed by SHEIN. For online videos, the teens preferred Netflix slightly over Youtube. Amazon Prime gained some popularity as a first choice among teens.

Among brick-and-mortar options, teens said they’ll spend 8 percent of their time shopping at stores specializing in secondhand goods, with 47 percent of teens buying secondhand items and 55 percent selling items to secondhand stores.

The top spending line teens reported was food, with 21 percent of respondents saying it’s their biggest spending category. That’s up from 21 percent in fall 2020, but down from 25 percent in spring 2020. Their favorite restaurant is Chick-fil-A, followed by Starbucks, Chipotle and McDonald’s.

Cash remained the preferred payment method for teens. They indicated a preference for Apple Pay and Venmo for digital financial transactions. Some 9 percent of teens — almost all of which were boys — said they had traded cryptocurrency.

To pay for their purchases, 33 percent of teens said they hold part-time jobs, flat with the number from fall 2020 and less than the 37 percent figure in spring 2020.

“In the wake of COVID-19 and given that these consumers are digitally native, we are not surprised to see online adoption at its highest ever this spring,” Erinn Murphy, Piper Sandler senior research analyst, said in a prepared statement. “Snapchat and TikTok are the top two social media platforms. While Amazon remains the No. 1 website, we are seeing a rise in female-centric platforms like SHEIN, Revolve and Princess Polly.”