Just in time for Christmas....
"Teens hold off on back-to-school shopping" by Christopher Muther |
Globe Staff, August 23, 2012
A number of consumer researchers say Awilda Moscat and her friend Kim Ramon are not the
only teens forgoing the tradition of August back-to-school shopping by
spreading out their apparel spending. A number of factors, including the
rise of chains like H&M and Zara, so-called fast fashion retailers
that sell inexpensive clothing and turn over their inventories rapidly
to stay on trend, may be contributing to the phenomenon.
Trend-savvy teens have always prowled the malls year-round. But
typically the bulk of their school clothes were bought in August. Now
many are delaying those purchases so that when, for example, cowl neck
sweaters emerge as the hot item of November, they can strike quickly.
Another factor is the influence of the Web, which
provides style-savvy shoppers with instant access to fashion shows,
news, and the newest trends.
I'm sure the newspaper can empathize.
“People have this seriously outdated idea that we’re buying
things the way we did 20 years ago,” said consumer psychologist Kit
Yarrow, author of “Gen BuY,”
about the shopping habits of Millennials. “They have this old-fashioned
notion that mom and daughter are going out and buying the majority of
their school clothes for the year in August. But it’s nothing like
that.”
No kidding.
To be sure, the bulk of back-to-school shopping still takes place at this time of year.
Nothing like undercutting the point of your agenda-pushing propaganda, is there?
The
National Retail Federation, which tracks shopping trends and habits, is
predicting a 14 percent rise in back-to-school spending in 2012 for
both K-12 and college students. That increase encompasses both clothing
and school supplies....
Still, some experts believe the old model of teens shopping for
back-to-school clothes almost exclusively this time of year is
disintegrating.
I'm sure the newspaper can empathize.
That was the case with a group of Waltham teens who were
strolling Newbury Street recently. While they were casually looking in
stores, the foursome said they thought it was ridiculous to buy all
their back-to-school clothes before starting school.
“Styles change,” said Sophia Gerner, 16. “It makes no sense to do it now.”
That’s a shift in thinking from back-to-school shopping of yore, when
mom and dad took the kids out to buy outfits for the year before school
started each fall, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of the
consumer research firm NPD Group.
Yes, once you get past the agenda-pushing propaganda function of the newspaper you never go back. Who believes someone who constantly lies to you?
“We would load up on these 10 outfits,” Cohen said. “But we would get
back to school and find out that no one was wearing green corduroy
pants. You would show up looking like a goofball, so they never got
taken out of the closet again.”
Right next to the stack of unread Boston Globes.
--more--"
