I’m the mother of a teen and trust me when I say she enjoys shopping. Maybe she enjoys shopping just a little too much, but that’s another topic for another time. This summer, I had occasion to interview her and several of her teen friends, also avid shoppers. The girls are: Becca, 16; Lucy, 15; Sam, 16; and Cat, 16, all residents of Boulder County, Colorado. The feedback is revealing, but a little disappointing at the same time. The conclusion? Many merchants are missing out on the opportunity to create loyal customers by disregarding market competition and the power of the youth dollar. Another discovery is how cost-conscious these shoppers are; they look for deals more aggressively when they’re footing the bill and they have little tolerance for pushy store clerks. Retailers, are you listening?

While the power of teenage shopping is nothing new, there appears to be a drastic shift from the label-addicted shopping that occurred when I was growing up. Sure, they’ll look for the cool label, but when pitted against that or keeping more money in their pockets, today’s teens go for the latter strategy.