LA-based Sharleen Ernster is a mother of two daughters, aged 14 and 16. Some years ago, Ernster says, she hadn’t heard of Brandy Melville. But today, her Gen Alpha daughter influences “probably 50%” of her household discretionary spending, and she’s a big fan.
“There are countless brands I never would have heard of without her TikTok and YouTube referrals,” she says. “Beauty is huge. [My 14-year-old] knows more about beauty products than I do, and we shop across CVS, Amazon and Sephora. Whatever she finds on TikTok and Snapchat affects our entire family universe.”
Ernster is not alone. Born between 2013 and 2025, Gen Alphas, now aged roughly between one and 15 years old, have major influence over their parents and families. According to market researcher GWI, a “clear majority” of eight to 11-year-olds have a say — maybe even the final say — on purchases in their home, for everything from toys to food. Already, Gen Alpha has $100 billion direct spending power, according to public relations firm DKC. And with an estimated spending power of $5.5 trillion by 2029, as the eldest reach working age, there’s a major growth avenue for brands who can reach them.
“Gen Alpha are kind of mini bosses. Basically, they’ve got this pull over the family, because they really advocate for what they want. And they’re used to the commercialization of everything,” says Alice Crossley, analyst at The Future Laboratory, who’s co-authored several reports digging into Gen Alpha and their Gen Z parents.
Part of the reason Gen Alphas have more agency is their millennial and Gen Z parents, “who are very tapped into mental wellbeing, and encourage children to advocate for themselves and speak about what they want”, she adds. One Vogue Business colleague recently shared with me that she spends her weekends on days out planned for her five-year-old son. We laughed, as millennials, at the contrast: as kids, we were dragged around department stores and ran whatever errands our parents needed to take care of. This shift is underscored by a 2025 report from Hilton, which states that some 70% of parents choose holiday destinations based on their children’s interests, a figure that continues to rise as younger generations have more and more influence over the home.
“We took a week-long trip to NYC recently because [my daughter is] obsessed with moving there when she’s an adult. We adopted a second cat at her urging. The list goes on,” says LA-based parent Jill Ettinger, who has a 12-year-old daughter that she says influences “at least 40% to 50%” of her spending.
“Gen Alpha influences household decisions more collaboratively than previous generations, meaning successful strategies often speak to shared experiences — whether that’s gaming, beauty, food or entertainment — rather than siloed youth marketing,” says Lucy Robertson, global head of brand marketing at creator agency Buttermilk. “In doing so, brands increasingly close traditional age gaps, becoming multi-generational rather than age-segmented.”
Flattening of age-appropriate culture
With the oldest Gen Alphas only in their teens, it’s a little early to map their consumer behavior, particularly for luxury brands. However, Bain Company has found Gen Alphas — at least the older ones — “approach premium brands and luxury categories much, much earlier than Gen Z”, says senior partner Federica Levato, because of their “hyper-digital DNA”.
The majority of parents I speak to in this story say their children are aware of brands, but the most common labels are sportswear incumbents like Nike and Adidas.
“Gen Alphas don’t value status as much as [older generations] do, but they value how they can stand out, and how they can be seen as an individual. Brands are a way they can self-express, and any way they can use products to differentiate themselves from other people is super relevant,” Levato adds.
Part of the reason for Gen Alpha’s greater brand awareness is the death of tween culture, or the “flattening of age-appropriate culture” for tweens, Crossley says. With the rise of short-form video algorithms leading to less control over what we see online, people of all ages are seeing the same content, and there’s less content tailored to users navigating their formative years.
“When I was growing up, if you’re a tween, you had a tween magazine, like Girl Talk. As an 11-year-old, you had your own separate culture, whereas that doesn’t really exist anymore. There’s kids and there’s adults — there’s no middle ground of tween, teeny-bopper culture,” Crossley says.
Even Gen Alphas without their own phones will see their siblings or parents watching this content. “It’s this flattening of culture that I think has led to their massive brand affinity, this Sephora kids phenomenon, the fact that Gen Alpha is asking for things like $50 moisturizers,” she says. “They’re seeing content they might not have previously seen.”
Screen time limitations
In response to this cultural flattening, governments, platforms and parents alike are understanding the negative effects of screen time. Many Gen Z and millennial parents have experienced the social media boom, and know what it’s like to be addicted to their phones. In fact, many of the parents and relatives I speak with admit their children often look over their shoulders at social media.
In response to their own behavior, parents are placing stricter controls on screen time. The majority of parents with children under 10 say they allow zero or limited screen time. Others with older children say they limit screen time to YouTube on the TV, rather than on a phone or an iPad, so they’re more aware of what their children see.
“We have no screens at home Monday to Thursday, apart from laptops for homework. However, on Friday after school through the weekend, they can have their phones,” says Kenton, mum to two teens, aged 13 and 15. “We have no phones or laptops in our bedrooms in the evenings ever. Also no phones at the table.”
Lianne Wiggins, 43, has two Gen Alpha children, aged seven and nine. “They are allowed limited screen time after school and at the weekends, but as they are in full-time school and wrap-around care, the time is very limited. On the weekends, in between activities, they are allowed limited screen time — but no YouTube or phones. Only films and TV series.”
Governments and platforms are cracking down, too. In early December, Australia banned under-16s from having social media accounts. A week later, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to ban under-15s in France from having access to social media “in the coming months”, if progress isn’t made by the EU to improve safety and reduce screen time. Meanwhile, Pinterest removed sharing features for under-16s in 2022, so teen users can no longer make their boards public.
“Obviously, tech’s not going anywhere; social media is not going anywhere. But I think many [Gen Alphas] are growing up with a lot more safeguarding,” Crossley says. “[Gen Z and young millennial parents] are trying to implement healthy habits.”
Many of the parents consulted for this report say their children spend a lot of time outdoors or partaking in activities, which reduces their screen time. Unplugging is already a trend among Gen Zs, who are fatigued with the algorithm and craving IRL experiences. But according to GWI, Gen Alphas are logging off, too. The percentage of eight to 15-year-olds who would rather watch a movie in the cinema has grown 44% from 2021 to 2025, according to a GWI survey of 15,497 12-15 year olds, while 40% of the cohort say they take breaks from their devices — a sign that many are mindful about time spent online. There’s also been a 16% rise in eight to 15-year-olds with a physical toy on their wishlist since 2023, and an 8% rise in those saying they play board games “a lot”, GWI found.
This is an interesting development. As brands plough money into social platforms and virtual worlds, they should remain cognizant of the fact that the next generation are also seeking tangible goods and experiences.
Co-creation is king
Gen Alphas take a more active role in social media and screen time than Gen Zs and millennials, experts agree, and brands should consider co-creation, instead of broadcasting, as the future of social media marketing. Today’s kids enjoy posting videos and carousels on TikTok or YouTube, messaging on Snapchat, and building worlds on Roblox or Minecraft, over doomscrolling. According to GWI data, 13% of Gen Alphas want to be a content creator when they grow up, compared with 8% who want to be teachers.
“Audiences of all ages grow more skeptical of perfection and performance, and Gen Alpha is simply growing up inside that shift. For them, the most influential creators feel like peers or collaborators, not celebrities — which helps explain why ‘YouTuber’ or ‘influencer’ consistently ranks among Gen Alpha’s top career aspirations,” says Buttermilk’s Robertson. Brands are understanding this shift. Elf Beauty, for example, engages in discussions with consumers in the comments section and co-creates products based on their feedback.
Elf also engages in Roblox, with its Elf Up world, “where players can explore, play and express identity in a game-like environment rather than passively consuming a post”, she adds. It’s a strong play. Right now, 38% of 12 to 15-year-old gamers are most interested in games with building or creating elements, according to GWI, prompting a surge in “sandbox-style” titles like Roblox, which has nearly doubled in usage since 2021, Gen Alpha making up around a third (33%) of users, per the platform. Brands including Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have engaged heavily with Roblox over the last five years. As of 2025, Gen Alphas can purchase real products within the platform, inspired by their digital worlds.
London-based Laura Cioffi recalls her son coming home and asking how much a Balenciaga hoodie cost after seeing it on his friend’s Fortnite. “This is how Gen Alpha discovers brands — through gaming platforms, peer recommendations within digital spaces, and YouTube content. Traditional advertising channels like TV simply don’t reach them,” she says.
Gaming and social media are both online and offline activities. The share of teens who play video games with friends in-person has grown in recent years, according to GWI data. Mario Party, for example, has seen an 11% rise in engagement since 2021. Games can start friendships and relationships for young teens IRL, and brands should consider these “party” moments when investing in gaming, GWI notes.
Outside of games, however, Gen Alphas are using design platforms like Canva or AI platforms like Midjourney to create and build online. “At the moment, [my 10-year-old daughter] is really interested in Canva and creating movies on there, and she’s shown interest in learning [editing software] Procreate,” says Louise Rynehart, a 45-year-old mum from the Midlands, UK.
“We’ve used ChatGPT to transform her drawings into vector images and I’ve also used Midjourney to create posters for her bedroom,” says Viviane Paraschiv, whose daughter is four. “It was a lot of fun.”
“When my nephew was a little younger, he would create AI-generated videos via Capcut for his TikTok account, which was generally centered around Fifa gaming, to generate clickbait views and virality,” my colleague Nicole Dyson says, speaking about her 14-year-old nephew. “Now, his social media accounts are all about taking selfies, and covering his face with emojis? Reminds me of the millennial-era of dog filters and sparkly crowns on Snapchat.”
Beyond screens, Gen Alphas embed technology in their everyday lives, notably via smart speakers and AI. A Vogue Business colleague recently bought a Kids Alexa for her daughter, upon her request. (Her daughter, aged 8, isn’t happy because it removes swear words, so she can’t listen to Charli XCX.) In the UK, 25% of Gen Alpha with smart devices speak to apps such as Alexa every day. Yet, only 11% talk daily to their grandad, and just 14% to their grandma, according to YouGov. For brands outside of Amazon, which is building early loyalty to Alexa, this poses a challenge: Alexa Kids has also blocked shoppable features and ads for children.
Beauty boom
While it’s too early to say where Gen Alpha will direct their luxury spending, beauty is a category where they are already investing and “heavily influencing their parents”, Bain’s Levato says.
Propelled by TikTok and YouTube virality, we’ve seen scores of beauty brands enter the market through Gen Alpha, aka the Sephora kids generation, in recent years. But amid the cultural flattening, brands need to be honest about who their products are for, as Gen Alphas become increasingly aware of the risks of using adult formulas, with harsh AHAs or retinols damaging their skin.
Last year, Kiehl’s launched a campaign warning against the rise of 10-step routines for under-15s, GWI notes, while Swedish pharmacies banned the sale of certain products to children.
Gen Alphas are becoming increasingly aware of beauty ingredients and what to avoid. Mexico City-based Robin Weiss, 58, has 10-year-old twin girls, who “seem to know everything about beauty, not only what products [are available], but also where they are made and if they are good for kids”.
Last year, Shay Mitchell came under fire for launching a skincare brand aimed at Gen Alpha children as young as three, which critics felt was imposing beauty standards too early. Other brands, including Bubble Skincare and Byoma, were originally aimed at Gen Z, but have scaled rapidly in recent years by building a cachet with older Gen Alphas and their parents, including clear messaging around protecting the skin barrier and creating safe skincare for young complections.
“My children’s favorite outing is to Sephora or Space NK. They have phones but not smart phones, watch YouTube on the TV with controls, but they hear about brands from YouTube and friends at school,” says one London-based parent, who wished to remain anonymous. Many of the generation’s top brands, like Bubble and Byoma, have incredibly bright, sensory packaging that pops on store shelves.
“I think this move to sensory products is a pushback — subconsciously — against tech,” Crossley says. “It’s like anything that they can really feel and experience. Going to Sephora, it’s all very tactile and sensory, so the products that really speak to them are the ones rooted in real life and the moment.”
Gen Alpha boys are a fast-growing beauty demographic, too, particularly in fragrance. “I have two boys, 13 and 15. They are obsessed with the haircut styles they see on their favorite sports stars or YouTubers, but they also always want to buy spot stickers, special hair wax, cologne and salt spray. Influenced by TikTok in a big way,” says Andraya Kenton, 43, who lives between Bali and the UK.
Secondhand and smaller players
Gen Alpha children are growing up with secondhand closets from birth, which is likely to affect their consumer behavior and boost the circular economy ahead, experts agree.
In The Future Laboratory’s survey of Gen Z parents across the UK, the US and Australia, many of whom have Gen Alpha children, the vast majority mentioned secondhand when asked about buying things for their children. “To be growing up where almost everything you have is secondhand, I think that’s going to have such an interesting impact on how they think about value as they come of age,” Crossley says. “On the one hand, you have capitalist ideas behind how brand literate they are and how many ads they see, but at the same time, in their everyday life, we’re seeing this massive shift to circularity.”
Fashion journalist Victoria Moss’s eight-year-old daughter knows lots of her clothes come from Vinted. “We put stuff to sell on there, too, so she’s quite aware about the cost of things,” Moss says. “She knows what we can sell a pile of books for and what we buy them for.”
“My [11-year-old] son enjoys secondhand and flea market shopping,” adds 42-year-old Copenhagen-based designer Elisabetta Stamm and founder of streetwear label Stamm. She’s echoed by several tween parents I speak with, whose children love secondhand or vintage shopping as an activity.
“Tiger has now started to understand the concept of vintage. He feels so proud wearing a vintage Harley Davidson T-shirt I found for him, because he knows it’s a rare piece I sourced on one of my vintage trips,” says Natasha Advani, founder of vintage label Not/Applicable, of her five-year-old son. “Right now, he’s really into motorcycles, so has me on the hunt for West Coast Choppers tees — he loves that he can wear something unique that not everyone else has.”
Similar for Gen Z, secondhand will feel like a natural extension of Gen Alpha shopping behavior, as they seek individuality and storytelling around their clothes. In addition to buying and selling on platforms like Vinted, older Gen Alphas are seeking out small, community-based brands to build their cultural cachet. My 12-year-old nephew’s Christmas list featured several items from a Cheshire-based streetwear brand I’d never heard of: Yelir World. He’d discovered it when a school friend showed it to him online. He’d gone away and researched the founder’s story from humble beginnings to millionaire, which he found inspiring.
Several parents and relatives reference similar, little-known streetwear brands when I ask what their Gen Alphas are into. “My nephew loves a streetwear brand called Bricc. This one surprised me as it must have some sort of cult following in his world,” Dyson says. “He couldn’t wait to post it online and tag the brand founder for a repost when his parcel arrived.”
While it’s the smaller hype-led labels and viral beauty brands dominating for now, as they mature, Alphas might engage more readily with luxury fashion. Brands should be ready: raised by digitally fluent, value-driven parents, their online behavior is more controlled and centered on shared experiences and creativity than the generations before them. Winning this generation will require a willingness to engage Gen Alpha as active participants across both digital and real-world experiences. Those that succeed won’t just be marketing to children, they will embed themselves in the worlds Gen Alpha is building, on and offline.
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