What Is Gen Alpha’s Influence on Millennial Spending?

Gen Alpha may be new on the scene, but new research suggests that brands and retailers would be smart to start counting them in. According to a new consumer survey conducted by DKC Analytics Group, the public relations, marketing and government affairs firm, of more than 1,000 American parents of Gen Alpha children about the behaviors and influence they have on household purchase decisions, Gen Alpha’s opinions hold a lot of power.

The authors of the report said that Gen Alpha is currently a “gateway generation,” due to their behaviors that bring influencers and information about brands and products directly to the consumers making purchase decisions in their homes and creating shifts in consumer habits. Put simply, if you have the attention of Gen Alpha, you have a direct line of contact with their Millennial parents.

Among the top findings in the report, is that typical Gen Alpha parents (who are mostly Millennials) are impacted by their child’s opinions about half the time (49 percent). Almost all (95 percent) of Gen Alpha parents are learning about new brands, products or services from their children.

At least in some way, Gen Alpha is also contributing to spending on their own. About 90 percent of Gen Alpha is earning money in at least one way from positive reinforcement (73 percent), chores (69 percent), odd jobs outside the house (47 percent) and online selling or reselling (36 percent). The average Gen Alpha child has about $45 a week to spend on their own, increasing to about $100 a week for children in houses with annual incomes exceeding $100,000 — notably, this varies by U.S. region with the highest amount of money to be spent weekly by Gen Alpha highest in New York, followed by Los Angeles and lowest in the Midwest.

Millennial parents told the company that they have been teaching their Gen Alpha children the importance of money management (98 percent) and 76 percent said their child is financially savvy and better at making consumer decisions than they were at the same age. Eighty-four percent of parents said they are surprised by their Gen Alpha child’s shopping savvy.

Ninety-two percent of parents of Gen Alpha said their children are great at finding new interesting products and 91 percent said their children love to shop. The top 10 stores that Gen Alpha parents said their children love to shop from are Walmart, Amazon, Target, Nike, Gamestop, Five Below, Shein, Costco, Dollar Tree and Sephora.

Almost 90 percent of parents said that their Gen Alpha children are “very attentive to specific brands” and 69 percent said their children “gravitate toward high-end luxury brands.” With this in mind, 64 percent of parents said they are more likely to buy specific brands and 40 percent said they now buy more ultra-luxury brands due to their Gen Alpha child. Moreover, these young shoppers are also changing where their parents shop with 68 percent of respondents saying that they are more likely to make an online purchase due to their Gen Alpha child and 55 percent believing that their Gen Alpha children will eventually depend on AI to shop.

Importantly, as they share preferences with their parents, Gen Alpha is unsurprisingly socially conscious about the brands and retailers they choose to support. Almost 70 percent of Gen Alpha parents said that their child understands the concept of corporate values and another 69 percent said that their child expresses preference about social causes frequently or occasionally. Ranking how often their child expresses preferences, parents said that they most often hear about diversity, equity and inclusion, followed by sustainability and politics or voting.