Personal Preferences of Tween Shoppers

Purpose: This paper seeks to shed light on the behaviors of a group of consumers referred to as “tween”, a sub‐group of Generation Y, described as pre‐adolescents, aged 9 to 15, who are be“tween” the children and juniors markets, by taking previously tested measures and applying them to “tween” girls. The work of Blackwell et al. indicates that individual tastes and preferences are expected to have an effect on to whom tweens look for purchasing cues. Design/methodology/approach: The first section of the survey included demographic items consisting of tweens\u27 age, grade level and race. Section two of the survey consisted of nine items used to determine the influence of two reference groups: parents and friends. Items adapted from the personal involvement index were used to measure the personal involvement of tweens in apparel purchases. Store patronage was measured by assessing the frequency with which participants patronized each of eight given retail settings. Findings: Future research should replicate or adapt the study to a larger sample in order to determine the strength of the relationships, since the majority of the respondents were between the ages of 12 to 15, leaving younger tweens under‐represented. Originality/value: The results reveal that tweens exhibit a high level of fashion interest and that fashion interest is the only variable in the study to have significant relationships with each of the other variables