Cowen Taps Interns to Gauge Spending Habits, Technology Use
In an efficient use of leveraging existing resources, Cowen tapped its interns for a survey on spending, wellness and technology use. The survey revealed that 74 percent of Generation Z consumers polled cited a higher degree of personal health consciousness post-pandemic.
The average age of the respondents was 21, and by gender, 37 percent were female, while 63 percent were male. The report was compiled by the Cowen Retail Team, which is led by analyst Oliver Chen. The interns work across Cowen’s investment banking, research and capital markets businesses.
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Other key findings included that 47 percent of respondents said friends and family served as their “greatest style inspiration,” while TikTok garnered 19 percent. Regarding purchase considerations, “quality” ranked number one. And with resale, 15 percent said their wardrobe was wholly made up of resold items.
When asked to rank their favorite resale site, “other” came in tops at 39 percent, with Goat and Depop grabbing 27 percent and 24 percent, respectively. StockX had 18 percent of votes, while eBay came in with 15 percent. The RealReal, Poshmark, ThredUp and Curtsy all came in with less than 10 percent.
With technology, Cowen said, “most respondents [51 percent] report spending four to six hours per day on their phone,” while 28 percent spend two to four hours a day.
Digging deeper into spending habits, the authors of the report said the survey results “indicate spending went unchanged in last six months; shopping was the most likely category for spending cuts while groceries were least likely.” The report also showed that Gen Z had a strong preference for greener forms of transportation and sustainable products at 58 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
Courtesy image.
Looking at shopping channels, 53 percent of respondents preferred to shop in a physical store versus online. And 42 percent said they “appreciate the convenience of online shopping the most.”
With Web 3.0, the authors of the report found that 95 percent “of survey participants have never shopped in a virtual world” while “86 percent of those surveyed have never purchased an NFT.”
When asked about their favorite apparel and accessory brands, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, Gucci, Lululemon, Nike, Zara, J. Crew, H&M, Express and Untuckit had the most mentions. The poll also showed that 40 percent of respondents said their apparel expenditures had remained the same over the past six months, while 33 percent said spending had increased.
Asked about using buy now, pay later services, 84 percent of Gen Z respondents said they have never used them. Finally, regarding the biggest spending categories, 74 percent said it was dining out/bars. Groceries and shopping both came in with 9 percent, while travel garnered 5 percent.
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