Chart by Age from Label Networks%uFFFD North American Youth Culture Study 2009 of Top Online Retail Favorites
As online shopping continues to increase among youth culture in North America, we continue to track which sites tend to be the most preferred among 13-25-year-olds, especially taking a look by gender and age groups. In this story, as a recap from our newly released North American Youth Culture Study 2009, we take a look at the top websites this demographic is buying from and names as their favorite by age groups.
Overall it’s important to know which sites young people like to shop from mostly, and then go and review such sites and see what some aspects of the attraction may be. Most of the top sites not only have their apparel collections, but also news, blogs, designer interviews, band interviews, and other things that make the sites attractive to the marketplace (other than ebay.com of course).
One of the most distinct characteristics in top retail sites is looking at the cross-tabulations by age groups. Often, there are interesting correlations. For example, hottopic.com is high across the board, which also correlates with changes this year in top favorite fashion brand result. As an online retailer, it peaks among 13-14-year-olds at 19.9% compared with only 6.7% of 18-20-year-olds. Urbanoutfitters.com tends to be high among middle ages of 15-20-year-olds, whereas americanapparel.com peaks among 15-17-year-olds at 7.9%. Pacsun.com is highest among younger demographics, whereas ebay.com is highest among older, spiking among 21-25-year-olds at 9.1%. Sites that have decreased overall include ccs.com, even though it is still relatively strong among 15-17-year-olds. It’s also interesting to point out that many action sports inspired online sites have decreased as brands, retailers, and now online retailers such as urbanoutfitters.com and forever21.com, for examples, continue to increase. One reason for this is the increased interest in fast-fashion, and/or the merchandise mix of stores such as UrbanOutfitters including retro styles and music-inspired apparel and accessories. In addition, hottopic.com has increased tremendously in the last year mainly because of the increase in males shopping there, and the larger draw now with its music component. You can also see that it tends to attract high percentages across a multiple of age groups, whereas site such as ebay.com peak in certain age groups, indicating that there is potential to reach others, but it hasn’t yet because the concentration of the site is older.
The advantages of course of the internet are that you can reach niche markets, and brands and retailers that do this well also tend to spike in terms of attracting specific demographics. For example, glamourkills.com spiking among 13-14-year-olds which is a relatively unknown brand in stores, but is quite well known among a younger demographic for its interesting website, oversized fonts, foils, and T-shirt graphics. Where stores can increase revenue is through their online component, whether it’s direct to consumers or through distribution of top online retailers.
Looking at the results not only by age, but also further down the list (outside of the top 10 or 20), you can see which online retailers are capturing specific target markets. And while it’s a good idea to see who’s currently on top as a favorite online retailer and check out their sites, it’s also important to investigate up-and-coming online retail preferences among this marketplace because changes in preferences, especially for online sites, tend to change quickly. However this also represents a market opportunity for savvy, niche brands/sites to make their mark and capture a segment of this demographic as online retail sites can be created and adapt more easily to market preferences–unlike brick and mortar stores.
For more information about online retailer results including Topline, and Gender Results, and for subscription information to the North American Youth Culture Study 2009, email info@labelnetworks.com; (323) 630-4000.
