Watch how Gen Alpha introduces their parents to popular slang
A new social media trend focuses on Generation Alpha explaining their complicated slang to their parents.
The youngest consumers are establishing themselves, so take note.
Generation Alpha, or children up to age 16, are becoming influential purchasing brokers in the shopping economy, and their parents are listening, according to two studies.
New research from DKC, a communications and marketing firm that advises brands, reveals that children and teens aged 8 to 15 have direct control over $95 billion and influence broader household spending.
In a survey of 1,000 parents of Generation Alpha children, 90% said their children’s preferences changed their spending behavior, and 41% said all household spending decisions were influenced by their Generation Alpha children.
“This gateway generation is increasingly becoming responsible for household spending for their families,” DKC CEO Matthew Traub told USA TODAY.
Generation Alpha children have grown up with AI
The study found that Gen Alpha children’s spending comes from allowances for doing chores (78%), payments for good grades (67%), and their own side jobs like mowing lawns or babysitting (57%). Some (14%) get paid to sell or resell products online.
DKC surveyed parents of Generation Alpha children between the ages of 8 and 15.
This generation is the first to grow up with AI and other digital tools at their disposal, and these tools are helping them shop and, in some cases, start their own businesses, Traub said.
“This has given them the opportunity to become entrepreneurs at a very early age,” he said.
Traub said the seamlessness and ease of digital transactions and the ease with which children can use their parents’ digital payment methods also make purchasing easier for this generation.
Easy to generate online
Ari Furman, U.S. consumer markets industry leader at professional services firm PwC, said Generation Alpha children have become “incredibly adept at navigating online marketplaces” during the coronavirus pandemic because they grew up with screens preloaded with payment methods.
“Many of them learned to swipe before they wrote and learned to negotiate before they drove,” Fuhrman told USA TODAY.
PwC surveyed 1,000 children aged 7 to 14 and their parents and found that 97% of Generation Alpha children said they sometimes buy things for themselves.
Other options are available for kids to have their own digital payment accounts, including Apple Cash, Greenlight, teen checking accounts, and Cash App. Retailers like Amazon offer child accounts with independent spending limits and parental approval options.
52% of Gen Alpha survey respondents added items to a shared cart for their parents to see.
“It’s like a modern-day version of ‘Can I have this?'” Furman said of adding items to an online shopping cart.
Kendall Beierlein, 14, of West Islip, New York, fills up her online shopping cart and signals her mother, Kylie, to buy something.
“She’s loading the cart,” Kylie told USA TODAY.
Kendall added: “I tell her about it and ask her permission before I buy it.”
Kylie said Kendall is very disciplined and doesn’t ask for much, so Kylie usually buys what’s in the cart. Kendall said she typically buys clothes online when the seasons change or when she grows larger than her previous size.
Kylie agreed with research that parents’ shopping decisions are influenced by their children, and said that although she doesn’t use social media much, she knows Kendall and her friends are looking at what they want and reviews online.
In the PwC report, 61% of Gen Alpha respondents said they were influenced by social media when making a purchase, and 56% cited peer influence.
What impact does Gen Alpha have?
The influence that Generation Alpha has on their parents spans a wide range of categories.
52% of parents who participated in the DKC survey said they were more likely to try new or different foods, and 30% of parents, including 43% of mothers, said they were more likely to try a new beauty product suggested by their child. 38% of parents said they were likely to travel to a new vacation destination, and 33% of parents, including 47% of fathers, said they were likely to watch a new or different sport.
But Gen Alpha kids aren’t just influencing what their parents buy. They influence what they don’t buy.
Almost half (47%) of parents surveyed said they would avoid brands their children dislike.
Gen Alpha children “make more value judgments about brands than previous generations,” Traub said. “They value not only the brands they like, but also the brands they don’t like.”
How is this generation different?
Children and teens are constantly begging their parents to buy things for them. What makes Gen Alpha more successful?
“The biggest change we’re looking at is being very digital and transaction-oriented,” Traub said. “Parents say their Alpha generation kids are making them pay more attention to Chat GPT and other AI tools.” They are also making more purchases online and are more likely to use social media to research product reviews.
Generation Alpha children are much more familiar with AI than previous generations, including using AI to search, find and buy brands and products online, making them different from previous generations of children who often ask their parents to buy them something, Fuhrman said.
“Parents have the credit cards, but the kids are the ones who shape the cards,” she says.
“Kids have been nagging their parents for what they want, but I think this generation is particularly adept at strategic negotiation and using other means of persuading parents that frankly didn’t exist before,” Fuhrman said.
“In some ways, online carts are becoming the new family group chat,” she said.
And as these young consumers become more adept at shopping and able to influence their parents, Furman said, “We believe many of these children will have 10 years of experience earning, negotiating, and allocating capital by the time they reach adulthood. They will enter the workforce not as employees, but as managers.”
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her at @blinfisher on X, Facebook and Instagram and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky.. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, breaking down complex consumer and financial news. Subscribe here.
