"Piper Jaffray recently completed its 37th semi-​annual Generation Z survey of 8,000 U.S. teens. Overall, it found that teens claim they spend approximately $2,600 per year, a 1% year ‑over-​year raise and a 6% compared to last fall."

"Overall Spending Behavior:

• Food is the top priority for males in terms of wallet share and the second for females. Chick-​fil‑A has been the favorite restaurant of this age group for the past three surveys
• Footwear is gaining in wallet share for female teens while fashion accessories hit new survey lows
• Video games are one of the most notable share gainers in the survey at 14% of teen male spending vs. 11% multi-​year average"

It's no secret that Generation Z loves the internet. So, they're probably using e‑commerce to buy their favorite products. In fact, within the last six months, more than half (55.8%) of Students used a mobile device to purchase products and 41.6% ordered food for take-​out or delivery via mobile device, according to AudienceSCAN.

"Brand Preferences:

• Athletic brands dominate teen preferences with Nike and Vans as the top two footwear brands. lululemon also hit an all-​time survey high
• Streetwear-​brand Supreme fades while Off-​White & European luxury brands gain 'preppy' (Polo, Sperry, Vineyard Vines) loses share
• Tarte is the top cosmetics brand and Neutrogena is the top skincare brand. Eighty percent of teens say they get their beauty tips from influencers
• Eighty-​three percent of teens own an iPhone (up slightly from last year) whereas 86% of teens expect an iPhone to be their next phone
• The generation's favorite social platform is Snapchat, but Instagram is cited as the most used. Facebook engagement is beginning to flatten"

Retailers selling any of this generation's favorite products should be promoting their products to Students via digital advertising. According to AudienceSCAN, last year, Students took action after either receiving text ads or seeing advertisements on their mobile smartphone apps (57%), receiving email ads (53.7%) and seeing ads on daily deals sites such as Groupon. They're also 44% more likely than other shoppers to click on text link ads on websites and 79% more likely to find advertising on their mobile apps useful. Even though 42.4% of Students throw away ads they get in their mailboxes without even reading them, there are some forms of traditional advertising that are still effective on them. Last year, 66.9% took action after seeing a TV commercial and they're 48% more likely than others to react to outdoor ads.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.