American children between the ages of 8 and 14 are reshaping how their families spend money at a scale that is drawing close attention from retailers and brands. Generation Alpha influences 42 percent of household spending on average, and that share climbs to 49 percent in high-income households, according to a 2025 survey by public relations firm DKC of about 1,000 US parents of children aged 8 to 14. Separately, Teneo’s Gen Alpha Consumer Influence Study, which surveyed 1,000 children born between 2010 and 2014, found that 48 percent of parental spending across the US and UK is now influenced by Generation Alpha, amounting to more than $255 billion in spending across food, fashion, and leisure in the US alone.
Kids who decide before they can drive
Seventy percent of 7- to 14-year-olds own their own tablet, 72 percent use smartphones regularly, and 97 percent say they make purchasing decisions independently at least some of the time, according to PwC’s 2026 Generation Alpha Survey, which polled 1,004 US children in that age range alongside 1,009 of their parents.
They average 3.6 hours of recreational screen time daily, more than double the time spent playing outdoors or reading, and are using what they learn online to change how their families spend money. The survey was conducted between January 29 and February 13, 2026.
Most Gen Alpha kids (72 percent) say they buy food and drinks, followed by toys at 57 percent and clothing at 55 percent.
Digital spending is also significant, with 53 percent purchasing digital apps or one-time downloads, 42 percent making in-game purchases, and 34 percent buying subscriptions or passes.
A gap between what parents think and what kids do
Nearly all Gen Alphas, 97 percent, say they influence clothing and accessories purchases at least some of the time, a view largely shared by parents, 94 percent of whom acknowledge that sway.
There is more disconnect in skincare and beauty, where 81 percent of kids report influence compared with 61 percent of parents.
That gap widens further in digital behavior. Only 19 percent of parents reported that their children are independently ordering via shopping apps, and just 14 percent think their kids are using food delivery apps on their own.
Yet nearly one in four kids (24 percent) say they independently order items using shopping apps or websites, and 25 percent do so via food delivery platforms.
Among 7- to 9-year-olds, 46 percent already own their own smartphone; by ages 13 to 14, that figure rises to 89 percent. They are already influencing family spending, running side businesses, and placing delivery orders, sometimes without parents realizing it.
Social media outranks peers as the purchase trigger
When asked what makes them want to buy something, 61 percent of Gen Alpha respondents point to social media, a figure larger than peer influence at 56 percent, and which significantly outpaces traditional channels like TV advertising at 48 percent or in-store browsing at 53 percent.
The dynamic is already rippling into adult behavior. Parents say they are paying more attention to AI tools such as ChatGPT as a result of their Gen Alpha child’s influence, and they have increased their online purchases and are more likely to use social media to look up product reviews.
Payment habits, however, remain surprisingly old-fashioned. Sixty percent of kids say an adult pays for them when they make a purchase, and 49 percent say they use cash.
Only 16 percent use digital payments or wallets. That changes with age: digital wallet use rises to 23 percent among 13- to 14-year-olds, compared with 12 percent of 7- to 9-year-olds.
What it means for brands and everyday family life
The findings land at a moment when the generational handoff of consumer power is accelerating. Generation Alpha is developing preferences for products and services years before they have an income of their own, which means brand loyalty is being formed in primary school.
The pattern has parallels to other shifts in how households make decisions together. Research on multigenerational family dynamics consistently finds that the more generations share a household or budget, the more diffuse spending authority becomes.
Separately, the rise of cross-generational relationships suggests that age cohorts are influencing each other’s choices in ways that traditional single-generation marketing models do not fully capture.
For retailers, gaming companies, and consumer packaged goods brands, the implications are immediate: this generation knows which products and brands it prefers, years before it has its own significant income. PwC’s full Generation Alpha Survey report is available on the firm’s consumer markets research hub.
