New Look, Topshop and H&M fall out of favour
Market research firm Kids Insights, which conducts regular surveys into the attitudes and preferences of children, tweens and teenagers, have published its latest research into under-18s’ attitudes towards the high street and town centre shopping.
The research, which asks 20,000 under-18s each year about their favourite shops and restaurants, reveals that over 2018 New Look halved in popularity among children, dropping from 14.4 per cent to 7.2 per cent.
Other retailers traditionally popular with teenage girls (13-18) also saw a decline in the last quarter of 2018, with Topshop dropping from 7.2 per cent to 5.8 per cent and H&M declining from 5.2 per cent to 2.7 per cent.
In contrast, Primark rose in popularity over 2018, taking the top spot among 13-18 year old girls in quarter four with 18.2 per cent (up over 5 per cent year on year).
Among younger girls (4-12) toy store Smyths has rapidly grown in popularity, rising from 3.1 per cent at the end of 2017 to 9.4 per cent at the end of 2018. This makes Smyths the most popular high street store within this demographic. The Entertainer, also saw a sharp rise in popularity among 4-12 year old girls last year, growing from 0.2 per cent to 4.1 per cent over 2018.
For boys aged 4-12 toys and video game stores ranked highest in the last quarter of 2018 (Smyths top with 9.8 per cent followed by GAME with 5.7 per cent), while 13-18 year old boys cited GAME as their favourite high street store (12.7 per cent).
Jenny Kieras from Kids Insights said: “Fast fashion still rules the high street as far as teenage girls are concerned, but New Look and others lost out to Primark in the run up to Christmas.
“However, for younger girls and boys, toy store Smyths topped the last quarter of 2018, while teenage boys showed a strong preference for supermarkets as well as shops like GAME.”
Top Five Favourite Shops (4-12 Year Old Girls) October-December 2018
- Smyths – 9.4 per cent
- Primark – 7.1 per cent
- Claire’s Accessories – 4.5 per cent
- Tesco – 4.5 per cent
- Poundland – 4.1 per cent
Top Five Favourite Shops (13-18 Year Old Girls) October-December 2018
- Primark – 18.2 per cent
- New Look – 7.2 per cent
- Topshop – 5.8 per cent
- Tesco – 4.7 per cent
- Superdrug – 3.7 per cent
