Top 20 Brands Among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare

Published on October 21, 2023 at 4:51 am by Maleha Afzal in Business, Lists, News

In this article, we will cover the top 20 brands among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, you can directly go to Top 5 Brands Among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare.

According to a report by McKinsey, Generation Z is the second youngest generation in the world. The generation is called the “Digital Natives” meaning this generation grew up with easy access to the internet. Generation Z is of utmost importance to companies, due to their knowledge of technology and growing population. By 2025, the generation is expected to make up a quarter of the Asia Pacific, a huge market for companies to target.

The report also shares some unique characteristics of the generation, indicating how they may impact buying behavior. For instance, the generation spends most of their time terminally online, shopping, working, or making friends. Additionally, the generation makes up 60% of the users on TikTok, meaning that social media is an important part of the generation’s daily routine. Such could be a possible explanation for the rise in social and e-commerce platforms across the globe.

What Do Teens in The US Think About Brands?

Piper Sandler conducted its 46th semi-annual fall Generation Z survey with 9,193 teens as survey respondents across the United States, with an average age of 15.7. The survey was conducted between September 4 and September 27.

According to the survey, 37% of the surveyed teens were currently employed as part-time workers and reported their spending to go down by 1% to $2,316 during the fall. Such happens to be the first decrease ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, with inflation standing as the second biggest concern for 9% of the pool. Other important social causes that concerned the group of teens surveyed included racial inequality, the environment, abortion, and the economy, which may be useful information for marketers.

According to the report, food expense was the number one wallet priority, and male spending reported an increase of 11%. Female fashion spending decreased by 7% and cosmetics held the greatest proportion of beauty spending. You can also check out some of the highest paying summer jobs for teens.

Some of Gen Z’s Most Favourite Brands

Teens in the United States are highly aware of high-quality brands and therefore allocate resources to purchasing them. Some of the most popular brands from the report by Piper Sandler include NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is a leading footwear and sports apparel company based in the United States. On September 28, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) reported earnings for the fiscal first quarter of 2024. The company reported earnings per share of $0.94, beating market consensus by $0.18. Additionally, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) posted a revenue of $12.94 billion during the quarter, with a year-on-year revenue growth of 1.99%.

On October 17, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) revealed its new Apple Pencil. The new Apple Pencil reports having pixel-perfect accuracy, low latency, and tilt sensitivity. The pencil is a great tool for note-taking, sketching, annotating, journaling, and designing. The product can be charged through a USB-C cable and will be launched for purchase by the beginning of November. The Apple Pencil works with all models of the iPad having a USB-C port.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is on the radar of investors and analysts. On October 19, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein maintained his price target of $170 on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and reiterated an outperform rating on the shares. Over the past 3 months, 42 Wall Street analysts have given their recommendations on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) with 41 recommending to Buy the stock. The stock has an average price forecast of $175.38 and a high price target of $230.

The buying behavior among teens is highly dynamic and a cause of concern for business owners. Such highlights the need to constantly invest time and resources trying to understand and analyze Generation Z’s buying behavior. With that, let’s take a look at the top 20 brands among Gen Z in the US by mindshare. You can also check out Gen Z’s favorite brands in 2023.

Top 20 Brands Among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare

Our Methodology

For our title, top 20 brands among Gen Z in the US by mindshare, we sourced our data from Piper Sandler’s 46th semi-annual fall Generation Z survey. The survey was conducted between September 4 and September 27, with a sample of 9,193 teens across the United States. The teens comprised 54% males, 45% females, and 1% non-binary. Additionally, the survey spread out to the South, West, Midwest, and Northeast regions, consisting of 21%, 36%, 29%, and 14% of the teens respectively. The average age of the teens was posted at 15.7.

The brands were categorized by sectors and ranked by mindshare. By definition, mindshare is defined as the amount or level of consumer awareness about a product, brand, company, or idea. In the report, we noticed that in some instances the percentage of ownership for a brand among the survey respondents was displayed. Ownership is a reflection of the mindshare, meaning that popular brands are most likely to be owned by consumers and vice versa. Additionally, some cases were ranked under more than one sector. To counter such, we took the average of the mindshare or ownership percentage. Such cases have been mentioned and highlighted distinctly.

Top 20 Brands Among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare

20. Starbucks

Percentage of Mindshare: 13%

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is a leading multinational coffee chain in the United States. The Company offers a unique experience for coffee drinkers across the globe. With a mindshare of 13%, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) ranks as one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare.

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare.

19. Rare Beauty

Percentage of Mindshare: 13%

Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez is one of the leading cosmetics brands among teens in the United States. The brand reported a mindshare of 13%. The brand is known to own vegan and cruelty-free makeup products.

18. Lays

Percentage of Mindshare: 13%

Lays by PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is a leading snack brand among teens in the United States, with a mindshare of 13%. Lays by PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is a popular choice and comes in unique flavors catering to people of all ages.

17. Goldfish

Percentage of Mindshare: 13%

Goldfish is one of the favorite brands among teens in the United States, with a mindshare of 13%. The Goldfish cracker is a fish shaped cracker produced by Pepperidge Farm, a division of the Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB).

16. Chick-fil-A

Percentage of Mindshare: 16%

Chick-fil-A is a leading fast food chain in the United States. The company has fast food restaurants across 47 states in the United States, indicating how popular the brand is. The fast food chain reported a mindshare of 16% among all the survey respondents.

15. Sol de Janeiro

Percentage of Mindshare: 17%

Sol de Janeiro is among the leading skin and body care brands in the world. With a mindshare of 17%, Sol de Janeiro ranks as one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare. The brand also happens to rank second in the fragrance category.

14. Coach

Percentage of Mindshare: 19%

Coach is a luxury brand, and ranks as the number one handbag brand among the survey respondents. With a mindshare of 19%, Coach is one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare.

13. Instagram

Percentage of Mindshare: 23%

With a mindshare of 23%, Instagram by Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) ranks as one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare. Instagram is highly popular among teenagers and Generation Z, which explains why companies invest most of their resources in marketing on this platform.

12. Snapchat

Percentage of Mindshare: 28%

Snapchat by Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) is one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare. The instant messaging and photo-sharing app is known to have high standards of privacy and is therefore highly popular among teens in the US.

11. Netflix

Percentage of Mindshare: 28.7%

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the most popular streaming applications across the web, hosting leading TV shows, movies, and documentaries.

10. e.l.f

Percentage of Mindshare: 29%

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) is a leading cosmetics brand in the United States. With a mindshare of 29%, e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) ranks as one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by Mindshare.

9. YouTube

Percentage of Mindshare: 29.1%

Among all the survey respondents, 29.1% of teens considered YouTube as their primary watching application. YouTube by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a leading video-sharing and watching application and is also used by business owners to sell their products.

8. Bath and Body Works

Percentage of Mindshare: 31%

Bath and Body Works ranked among the top brands used by Gen Z, with a mindshare of 31%. Other popular brands under the fragrance category include Sol de Janeiro, Victoria’s Secret, Ariana Grande, and Dior.

7. Ulta

Percentage of Mindshare: 32%

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) is one of the top brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare. Ulta is a beauty brand based in the United States.

6. Nike

Average Percentage of Mindshare: 34.3%

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) ranked as one of the top 20 brands among Gen Z in the United States by mindshare, with an average percentage of mindshare of 48%. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) had a mindshare of 61% in footwear, 35% in clothing, and 7% as a leading online store. This was followed by popular brands such as Converse, Adidas, New Balance, and Vans.

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) offer attractive products to Generation Z with targeted marketing.

Click here to see Top 5 Brands Among Gen Z in the US by Mindshare.