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Teens now spending as much on food as clothes

Kate Davidson Apr 10, 2014
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Teens now spending as much on food as clothes

Kate Davidson Apr 10, 2014
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Teenagers are now spending as much, if not more, on food as on clothing, according to Piper Jaffray’s semi-annual report on teen spending, out this week. And teenage’s new favorite place to spend money? Starbucks

“Food of course is the one category that isn’t e-commerce-able,” says senior research analyst Stephanie Wissink of Piper Jaffray. “When they indicate they’re spending more on food that most likely means they’re also frequenting food locations more regularly.”

Wissink says it’s a misconception that teens want to be alone with their phones. Looks like they want to be together – with their phones – in places like Starbucks.

“Starbucks probably has the most widely-used app at the point of sale system,” says Morningstar analyst RJ Hottovy. “So when people are making purchases, their app is used for one in every five purchases at this point.”

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