MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2015-- Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE: PJC), a leading investment bank and asset management firm, completed its 30th semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens research survey, which highlights spending trends and brand preferences amongst 9,400 U.S. teens across 46 U.S. states.

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This cycle marks a milestone for the survey, celebrating its 15th consecutive year. Since the project began in the spring of 2001, Piper Jaffray has surveyed approximately 125,000 teens and collected nearly 34 million data points on teen spending in fashion, beauty and personal care, digital media, food, gaming and entertainment.

“The power of our teen survey goes beyond the information we capture in any given season. Rather, it aids our ability to zoom out and monitor bigger, and sometimes more subtle, but very real trends. For example, we’ve observed fashion choices are moving back to authenticity across denim brands, performance athletic brands and independent cosmetic brands,” said Neely Tamminga, senior research analyst.

Fall 2015 Key Findings

Fashion, Beauty and Personal Care:

• While overall teen spending is down from the spring survey, spending on fashion is up among upper-income teens.
• Denim brands are inflecting positively for the first fall since 2010 and the category is up substantially from last year. However, this is not coming at a cost to athletic brands —rather, we are seeing a declining rate in fast fashion retailers as a percentage of overall upper-income females.
• In athletic brands, there is a clear divergence between performance athletic and peripheral athletic brands. Nike and comparable brands are strengthening in view of their mindshare dominance and authenticity.
• Accessories spending among females decelerated 4% year-over-year, in addition to a decline in the intention to purchase handbags.
• Within cosmetics, there is a trend of de-concentration of brands, where mega brands are ceding share to smaller, independent brands. Central to this shift is the rise of individuality over conforming to a crowd.
• Specialty stores are replacing broader merchandise/department stores among affluent females by consuming 33% of their shopping time—a 5% increase over last year.

Digital Media, Gaming and Entertainment:

• Amazon increased mindshare to 38% of the overall votes as a preferred website. Furthermore, Amazon Prime membership expanded 400 basis points versus just six months ago.
• Teens are spending more time on Netflix and YouTube as opposed to traditional TV; the amount of time they spend on these websites combined equates to 59% versus traditional TV at 29%.
• The most anticipated movies this year among teens are: 1) Hunger Games: Mockingbird, Part 2; 2) Star Wars, The Force Awakens; and 3) Divergent: Allegiant, Part 1.
• In music, broadcast radio continues to cede share to streaming, and Spotify is gaining on Pandora.
• 73% of participants anticipate buying a next-generation gaming console or already own one, which is up 6% over last year—a faster uptake over previous cycles.

For an infographic and more information regarding the fall survey, please visit www.piperjaffray.com/teens.

About the Survey
The Taking Stock With Teens survey is a semi-annual research project comprised of gathering input from approximately 9,400 teens with an average age of 16 years. Teen spending patterns, fashion trends, and brand and media preferences were assessed through visits to a geographically diverse subset of high schools across the United States.

About Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE: PJC) is an investment bank and asset management firm headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S. and in London, Zurich and Hong Kong. Securities brokerage and investment banking services are offered in the United States through Piper Jaffray & Co., member NYSE and SIPC, in Europe through Piper Jaffray Ltd., authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and in Hong Kong through Piper Jaffray Hong Kong, authorized and regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission. Asset management products and services are offered through three separate investment advisory affiliates registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Advisory Research Inc., Piper Jaffray Investment Management LLC and PJC Capital Partners LLC.

Piper Jaffray does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decisions. This report should be read in conjunction with important disclosure information, including an attestation under Regulation Analyst Certification, found at: www.piperjaffray.com/researchdisclosures.

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Source: Piper Jaffray Companies

Piper Jaffray Companies
Pamela Steensland, 612-303-8185
analystmediarelations@pjc.com