Hollister, PacSun and Urban Outfitters Outperformed with Gen-Z on Black Friday
Victoria’s Secret grabs highest share of teen spend among clothing retailers
There are a number of ways to measure retail success on Black Friday. One is to compare a retailers share of spend on Black Friday to a trailing period, and that is what we did.
What we found is that Hollister had a very good day, jumping from a 2.2 percent share for the five months leading up to Black Friday to a 7.7 percent share for Black Friday. PacSun had the second highest jump, increasing from a 7.5 percent trailing share to 12 percent for the day. Urban Outfitter had the third highest jump, from 5.9 percent to 9.7 percent.
The biggest underperformers were Forever 21 and Madewell. Forever 21, which lead fashion retailers with a 15.4 percent share for June through October, finished the day capturing only 10.5 percent of teen spend in the category. Madewell, which managed a 5.9 percent share leading up to Black Friday managed only 0.5 percent for the day.
Already the largest consumer cohort in the United States, Gen-Z’s brand preferences will have a big impact on any retailer’s future. And Current makes a debit and app for teens, so we have the transaction data for this important consumer cohort.
Gen-Z’s behavior also runs counter to the prevailing Black Friday narrative, in which more Americans than ever skipped physical retail and shopped online. Just as they did last year, teens so Black Friday as a social event and headed to the mall with friends and family. Online and in-app accounted for only 17 percent of all transactions using Current debit cards, while physical retail captured 83 percent of spend.
Victoria’s Secret, which is going through a controversy related to its annual televised fashion show, managed to capture 13.6 percent of Gen-Z spending in the category on Black Friday, putting it in the top spot for the second year in a row. PacSun came in second with 12 percent, American Eagle third with 10.9 percent and Forever 21 fourth with 10.5%.
