Amid greater competition to provide tweens and teens the products they want, marketers are finding these age segments are changing the way they spend their discretionary dollars. Fashion industry manufacturers and retailers are learning tweens (aged 7-12) and teens (aged 13-17) are bypassing fashion in favor of other product categories.
Twelve months ending July 2003 versus 12 months ending July 2002, tween and teen apparel purchases decreased 17.6 percent and 13.8 percent in dollar volume, respectively, according to leading market information company The NPD Group, Inc. This compares to a 6.3 percent decline from 2001 to 2002 in total apparel sales.
Purchases worn by tweens comprised 6.6XX percent ($11.3 billion) of total apparel sales, while teen sales made up 12.4 percent of apparel sales ($20.9 billion) in the 12 months ending July 2003. In total, the tween and teen markets represented over $32 billion from August 2002 to July 2003 versus $38 billion from August 2001 to July 2002.
“One factor contributing to these declines is too many apparel manufacturers and retailers competing for the tween and teen dollar, causing an over saturation of the apparel market,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group.
Another factor is that todays tweens and teens are living different lifestyles than the generations before them. The younger generation has many more choices when it comes to their discretionary income. Clothing now competes with items such as cell phones, cable TV, DSL/Internet subscriptions, health clubs and bottled water. And many of todays new gadgets are more expensive than the first-generation tape players and DVD players. Now on the shelves are higher-ticket MP3 players and portable DVD players that appeal to todays tech-savvy teens and tweens.
“Tweens and teens have shown us that value and image are important to them when shopping for stylish clothing,” said Cohen. “Kids today are learning to shop for value because they have less money to spend than they used to and they are now stretching their dollars across many retail categories just as their parents are. That big clothing allowance may not be so generous these days, and with fewer kids in the workforce due to the extremely tight job market, kids own earning potential has decreased sharply. They just dont have the dollars they used to.”
Todays consumer is willing to shop around for value, and that includes teens and tweens who know how to stretch a dollar. According to NPD, brands purchased and worn by tweens and teens in the 12 months ending July 2003 prove designer brands are not a necessity to these shoppers. Of the dollars spent on tween apparel, almost 39 percent went to private label brands, followed by national brands at 33 percent. Only five percent was spent on designer brands.
Of dollars spent on apparel for teenage boys during the time period of August 2002 to July 2003, six percent went to designer labels, which saw some decline during the August 2001 to July 2002 time period. Designer labels appear to be less interesting to teenage girls, capturing only four percent of apparel dollars August 2002 to July 2003, down from the prior year. Private label brands captured almost 41 percent of teenage girls' apparel dollars and 35 percent of teenage boys' apparel spending August 2002 to July 2003. These percentages indicate many teenagers seek stylish, but appropriately priced, clothing at specialty stores.
The effects of value shopping by tweens and teens can be seen in where they shop.The majority of apparel purchases, for wearers ages 7-17 were split between the specialty stores and mass merchants, 32 percent and 22 percent, respectively, in the 12 months ending July 2003. Teen clothing purchases surged in specialty stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle, with almost 37 percent being spent in this channel during the 12 months ending July 2003. Likewise, tween clothing purchases were most prevalent in mass merchant with 32 percent of dollars spent at stores like Target and Kmart. The national chain channel (Kohls and Sears), was the second largest channel in the tween market with just over 21 percent dollar share in the same time period.
“The current issues seen in the tween and teen apparel market should help apparel manufacturers and retailers realize that they need to diversify their target audiences. It is not good enough to just pinpoint the target market. If retailers are really trying to grow their markets, they need to consider marketing to a wider scope of consumers. That is, targeting consumers just above and below the center of their core consumer. In this case, that may mean targeting younger kids and the college crowd, since were finding fashion marketers just cant count on tweens and teens like they used to,” added Cohen.
