The news: Nordstrom hopes to capitalize on Gen Alpha’s voracious appetite for beauty products with young-adult-focused beauty kiosks located in its teen apparel departments and a “Youth Adult Beauty” category on its website, per Business of Fashion.
- The kiosks—which showcase popular brands like Kiramoon and Kaja—are available at six locations, including Chicago, Seattle, and Tampa.
- Online shoppers can choose from 876 products ranging from The Ordinary serums ($6) to Fresh’s white truffle face mask ($405).
How we got here: Given the broader struggles of the department store category, it’s unsurprising that Nordstrom sees Gen Alpha beauty spending as a potential antidote to sluggish sales and traffic.
- Teen spending on beauty is up 6% year over year (YoY) to $342, according to Piper Sandler’s fall teen survey—the most since spring 2018.
- While teens still gravitate toward wallet-friendly drugstore mainstays like e.l.f. Beauty, Maybelline, and CeraVe, they’re also trading up to premium brands like Sol de Janeiro and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, lured by the promise of high-quality, effective products and colorful packaging.
- Despite the role that social media (particularly TikTok) plays in product discovery and research, younger consumers overwhelmingly prefer to purchase in-store: 85% of teen beauty shoppers favor going to retailers like Sephora and Ulta over shopping online, per the spring 2024 edition of Piper Sandler’s teen survey.
Our take: The rise of the “Sephora tween” is creating opportunities for both brands and retailers to build relationships with Gen Alpha, which is particularly important given that the cohort drives $28 billion in direct spending and billions more indirectly, per Numerator.