Amazon dominates, Nike slips in teen shopping preference survey
An overwhelming number of teenage consumers say Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is their favorite website for shopping, according to the results of Piper Jaffray’s biannual survey released this week.
The firm’s survey found 49% of teen shoppers identified Amazon as their favorite ecommerce outlet, up 6% from last spring. Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) ranked a distant second, with 6% of teen shoppers tapping the sports apparel giant as their preferred website. American Eagle (NYSE:AEO) (5%), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) (3%) and Forever 21 (2%) rounded out the top five.
Amazon has seen major growth in recent quarters thanks to its focus on digital commerce, even as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers post weak sales figures amid declining store traffic. The Seattle-based company announced Wednesday that it would launch a service that allows teenagers to shop on site autonomously, with parents setting spending limits and approving purchases.
While Amazon remains a dominant force among teens, the survey found that teen spending has dropped more than 4% year-over-year, with food items and videos games seeing slight notable declines.
Nike topped all over clothing companies in popularity, with 23% of respondents identifying the swoosh as their favorite brand. However, there are signs that the apparel giant is losing its luster among younger shoppers. The company’s share fell 6% since the spring, which ranked among the largest declines for major companies, according to Piper Jaffray.
“For the first time in years, we’ve seen Nike share moderate as a preferred brand. Offsetting this weakness, we’ve seen an unexpected rise in trends like streetwear with Vans and Supreme gaining momentum. In addition, other brands such as Adidas, Puma and New Balance has been capturing more mindshare as teens gravitate towards that 1990s retro look,” said Erinn Murphy, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst.
Nike still dominated other brands in terms of footwear preference, garnering a 46% share compared to 12% for Vans and 11% for Adidas.
Like many sports retailers, Nike has struggled in 2017 amid tough competition in the U.S., shifting consumer tastes and decreased margins due to promotional sales efforts. Meanwhile, Adidas has experienced rapid growth due in large part to the shift toward retro styles.
In other key sectors, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) ranked as the most popular restaurant chain among both upper- and average-income teens. Nearly half (47%) of teens said Snapchat was their favorite social media platform, compared to 24% for Instagam and just 9% for Facebook.
