America's Best Brands, According to Each Generation

It’s been well-documented that Baby Boomers frequent department stores more than Gen Z. Historically, if Americans wanted to shop Prada, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton all in one place, they’d go to a department store like Neiman Marcus. Neil Saunders, Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail, points out that over the last decade, those couture brands are opening their own stores elsewhere. “Every year, the segment has seen its market share, share of retail sales, decline,” says Saunders. In addition, a lot of department stores are in malls, and as millennials and Gen Z are doing more online shopping or buying second-hand, most malls are seeing declining foot traffic. In the U.S., an average of 40 malls closed every year between 2017 and 2022, according to Capital One Shopping Research. Rather than buying everything in one store like a department store, Gen Z tends to hit up a mix of high-end and budget stores to buy different brands only sold at those places, such as shopping directly at Michael Kors, Coach, or Zara—“the ultimate day-traders,” as Jeff Fromm, author of Marketing to Gen Z and Marketing to Millennials, puts it. They are also less loyal to a particular designer brand than previous generations, says Fromm, and more interested in whatever clothes are worn by people they follow on social media. He adds that Gen Z and millennials tend to spend more on experiences than things—especially travel, sporting events, concerts, and Instagrammable foods.