Teens hot on Black Friday, but cool on Cyber Monday

11/29/2017
U.S. teens were out in the malls in force on Black Friday.

Teen spending increased 156% on Black Friday, driven by a 40% increase in the number of teens spending, and an 85% increase in the average amount spent per teen when compared to the prior 30-day average, according to financial technology company Current, which makes a debit card and app for teens.  Teens looked for early deals on Thanksgiving night online instead of in-store, with 38% of all teen purchases happening online. That figure is double the rate that teens typically shop online (19%).

But teens shifted their spending to the mall on Friday, as online shopping decreased from the high on Thursday evening to 20% of all purchases, which is in line with teen norms, according to Current.

American teens made Black Friday easily the biggest spending teen spending day since Current launched its teen debit card business in May 2017. Black Friday lured more teens out to shop, with 40% more teens making a transaction on average over the prior 30 days. The average spent per teen for the day increased 85%, to $33.35.

Clothing stores captured 44.7% of teen retail spending on Black Friday, followed by department stores (21.8%), cosmetics (9.9%), sporting goods (3.0%), video games (2.8%) and discount stores (2.1%).

Teen participation in Cyber Monday was subdued. Online purchases captured only one-third of all teen spending, and offline spending on retail accounted for only 44%, compared to 56% for food, transportation and entertainment combined. With shopping hours limited by the school day, and much of their disposable income spent the week prior, Cyber Monday was just an average day for teens.

"For American teens, Black Friday was as much an event as it was a day of discounts, which is why you didn't see large participation from teens Thanksgiving evening or on Cyber Monday," said Current founder and CEO Stuart Sopp. "They saved their money explicitly for Black Friday and then went to the mall with family and friends to shop, socialize and eat food."

In other findings from Current about Black Friday:

• Victoria's Secret dominated the clothing category, capturing 16.5% of teen spending, followed by: American Eagle (7.2%), Abercrombie & Fitch (6.9%), Champs (5.5%), H&M (5.1%), Forever 21 (4.8%), PacSun (4.6%), Hot Topic (3.3%), Urban Outfitters (2.7%) and Charlotte Russe (2.6%).

• Retail captured two-thirds of teen online spending (62.5%), followed by video games (26%) and streaming media and apps (11.5%).

• Online, Amazon captured nearly half of teen retail spending (48.8%), followed by Supreme New York (9.4%), Zumiez (8.9%), Zara (7.7%), Victoria's Secret (6.2%) and Wish.com (6.2%).
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