Among some of our youngest consumers, today’s 13-17 year olds have some shopping attitudes and habits that may or may not surprise you. Somebody did a recent study of 1000 13-24 year olds. I am splitting off the youngsters because I think it’s interesting to see what their preferences are while their parents still have some influence over them. See if any of these findings surprise you…

Teens age 13-17:

•  46% say that shopping is their favorite activity
• Prefer the mall to online shopping (the group that feels most strongly about this)
• Make 71% of their monthly purchases at the mall
• Their purchase decisions are most influenced by friends, four times more than by social media.
• They less brand-obsessed and more price-sensitive
• See “personalization” as an important feature in the things they buy
• They don’t want to shop online (can you DO that at age 15?) But they do like receiving coupons and promotions on their phones, particularly by email.

What I take from this is that, first, they get to be somewhere without mom and dad for the first time (someplace FUN, as opposed to SCHOOL.) That place is the mall, and they want to hang out there. Second, all income is coming from the parental units, so they want make it last.

Reminds me of the time I gave my 14-year-old niece 20 bucks for some clothes, and said I would take her anywhere she wanted. I assumed she would choose the Super Rad Teenz store (that’s a place, right?) Instead, it was Kohl’s 70% clearance rack, where she got THREE shirts. I was impressed!

There are more stats and depth at the original piece. So, what do you think? Do any of these habits surprise you? Do they sound like YOUR teen? Let us know over at the MindField Live Facebook page!