Members of Gen Alpha are too young to drive themselves to a store or open up a credit card in their own names—but that hasn’t stopped them from spending nearly as much as the gross domestic product of Bulgaria.
The youngest generation, born between 2010 and now, has eclipsed $100 billion in direct spending power annually, according to a new report from public-relations firm DKC—and they’re driving even more spending by having an outsized influence on household purchases.
The survey of about 1,000 U.S. parents of kids between 8- and 14-years-old found 42% of household spending was influenced by Gen Alpha’s opinions, a figure swelling to 49% for households earning more than $100,000 per year. This influence can range from what’s put on the dinner table to what clothes to buy and where to travel.
“This generation has more spending money than you’d think,” DKC President Matthew Traub told Fortune. “Their economic influence is enormous.”
Projected to be the largest generation—one day reaching 2 billion people—Gen Alpha is making early economic waves not only due to its sheer size, but also because its tech-native status opens doors to countless frictionless e-commerce opportunities. Research-based advisory firm McCrindle—founded by social researcher Mark McCrindle, credited for popularizing the term “Gen Alpha”—reported the youngsters would have $5.46 trillion in spending power by 2029.
The entrepreneurial generation
So where is Gen Alpha getting all this money to spend? Like tweens of every generation, Gen Alpha kids are doing chores and mowing laws in exchange for their parents’ pocket change. While 83% of surveyed parents said they give their children an allowance, 91% of the generation is working or earning money on their own in some form, including 40% who get paid for doing “odd jobs” outside the house.
Their earnings aren’t chump change. This generation of budding entrepreneurs has an average $67 to spend each week, totalling $3,484 per year. But what separates this generation from yesteryear’s latchkey kids and millennials is their “entrepreneurialism” spurred by easy access to technology, according to Traub.
It’s no wonder why. The rise of TikTok and YouTube stars have led Gen Alpha to see content creators as career role models, with more than 60% of the generation looking to these social-media creators for inspirational ideas, and more than a quarter making money from their own social-media activity, according to a November 2023 report from Visa.
“Digital tools allow a level of entrepreneurialism that replaces the old lemonade stand and gives you instant access to a much larger audience,” Traub said.
Where Gen Alpha is spending their money
Digital platforms aren’t just a way for today’s kids to make money; they’re a principal way in which they spend it. Gen Alpha is spending an average of more than two hours each week online shopping, according to a 2024 report from content-moderation consultancy WebPurify, with the sites frequented by the young generation transforming into de facto online shopping malls.
According to DKC, Roblox and Nike are the companies Gen Alpha invoke most when talking to their parents. Amazon, Shein, Temu, and TikTok also broke into the top 10.
Beyond the e-commerce giants, these brands have taken it upon themselves to vie for Gen Alpha’s money (or at least their parents’ credit cards). Roblox—with more than 25 million daily concurrent users—announced in May the ability for users to buy physical products from Roblox experiences, with their in-game avatars likewise getting items as part of their purchases. Nike has partnered with Roblox on its Nikeland experience since 2021, where users can not only play virtual dodgeball, but buy digital shoes for their avatars.
“Even in these gaming platforms that have traditionally been reserved for children, e-commerce is becoming a really monetizable form,” Alex Popken, vice president of trust and safety at WebPurify, previously told Fortune. “We’re just seeing kids being inundated with this content more often.”
