Page 191 - Jan 2019 MM

GENERAL GIFT/CHILDREN’S WORLD
Even if the tween demographic isn’t a target customer in your store, selling to this group is a huge and relatively easy opportunity. The people who usually buy for tweens probably are your target customers, and tweens have a surprisingly strong influence on buying behavior in general.
Born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Generation Z, which includes tweens, has more than $44 billion in annual purchasing power worldwide, according to a study from IBM and the National Retail Federation. That’s impressive, but what’s more interesting is how tweens are reshaping how those dollars are spent.
Go Gucci
(translation: This means getting something good)
Sherie Judah discovered the true spending power and influence soon after launching American Jewel in 2013.
“We started with a hair tie made for stay-at-home moms and college girls,” says Judah. “Then it hit the tweens, and they took it to a whole other level.”
How? Mainly through social media. These kids seem to spend hours in isolation on their phones, but they’re on Instagram, Snapchat and other social media platforms communicating with their friends and others.
“One person takes photo of something and the number of people who see it just explodes,” says Jennifer Mines, vice president of iScream. “Not everyone buys based on the photo, but everyone likes or comments, spreading the photo of the product even wider.”
Splitting the Cheddar
(translation: This means sharing the cost)
Mines says she also notices that, when it comes to gift-giving, tweens often go in together on one expensive gift rather than buying their own, less-expensive items.
“They go out and take a photo, share it with their friends and ask if they want to chip in,” says Mines. “A $100 retail price point isn’t unreasonable because you have five kids going in together on one gift.”
Getting an item in your store to be that gift and drawing moms and grandmothers to buy for their tweens begins with buying the right stuff. Melissa Fudala, senior vice president of Lifestyle Brands for Fashion Angels, says it’s all about aspirational—accessories a teenager and young adult would wear or use but not quite so edgy in the design.
“The tween isn’t always an innovator,” says Fudala. “She wants to be unique but doesn’t want to stand out too much. We try to get a good balance so she has her own style but still fits in with what’s happening around her.”
Judah adds that tween shoppers tend to be reactive.
They’ll go to school, see an older girl wearing an accessory and suddenly must have it. This is where traditional gift and accessories stores have an in, because again, the tween often isn’t the one making the final purchase. It’s her mother or grandmother. >
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