SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 2004--With the back-to-school season underway, shoppers are speaking-out about their top fashion influences, the best role models for today's students and more as part of The Macerich Company's (NYSE:MAC) new Shopping in America report, conducted by August Partners. Of the nearly 6,500 shoppers surveyed, both parents and students are most looking to magazines, friends and shopping malls for the latest in fall fashion trends. Students rank peers and celebrities among their top fashion influences but look to parents as the best role models.
Fashion Information Sources
More specifically, when asked where they get fashion information:
-- Magazines were named as the top source among parents (18.2
percent) and students (19.1 percent)
-- Students ranked magazines, friends and shopping malls as the
top three sources for fashion information
-- Tweens (10-to-14-year-olds) get most of their fashion
information from friends, followed by magazines and shopping
malls.
-- Catalogs hold more sway for parents than for students (7.1
percent vs. 4.7 percent)
All Parents All Students Tweens
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Magazines 18.7% 18.2% 19.1% 18.6%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
TV Shows 14.6% 15.0% 14.3% 11.8%
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Newspaper 4.0% 5.4% 3.0% 2.8%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Catalogs 5.7% 7.1% 4.7% 4.2%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Friends/Co-Workers 16.4% 13.9% 18.3% 20.0%
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Family Members 5.4% 7.3% 4.1% 6.5%
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Shopping Mall 15.4% 14.1% 16.4% 17.6%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Online Sources 3.2% 2.8% 3.4% 4.2%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Other 3.8% 2.7% 4.6% 4.1%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
Not Certain/No Answer 12.8% 13.6% 12.2% 10.2%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ----------
"Our research shows that this will be a strong back-to-school shopping season and that students and parents alike are looking to several sources for the hottest trends in fall fashion," said Garry Butcher, Macerich vice president of marketing and consumer research.
Fashion Influencers
While many parents and students claim not to be influenced by anyone in terms of fashion (23.8 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively), students named other students (19.3 percent) and celebrities (18.4 percent) as having an impact on their choices. Tweens are more influenced by their siblings, compared to an average of responses by students of all ages. Additionally, parents tend to overrate their influence in this area. About 16 percent of parents believe they are prime fashion influences in their households, while students rate parents at a 5.5 percent level.
All Parents All Students Tweens
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Celebrities 16.9% 14.9% 18.4% 20.4%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Other Students 19.5% 19.7% 19.3% 18.6%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Brothers or Sisters 12.4% 12.2% 12.6% 17.5%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Parents 10.1% 16.4% 5.5% 7.8%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
No One 28.7% 23.8% 32.3% 23.4%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Don't Know/No Opinion 12.3% 13.0% 11.9% 12.4%
---------------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- --------
Role Models for Students
In addition to back-to-school fashion, shoppers were asked who represented the best role models for today's students.
- Students rank parents (selected by 23.3 percent), celebrities
(16.1 percent) and teachers (16 percent) as the top role
models. Politicians come in last, selected by 3.7 percent of
students.
- Students in the "tween" age group named celebrities (22.9
percent) as their top role models, followed closely by parents
(21.1 percent) and teachers at (14.1 percent).
- Parents named parents as the best role models (48.6 percent), followed by teachers (25 percent) and professional business people (just 7.5 percent)
What will students be wearing this fall? Added Butcher, "Distressed denim jeans, mini skirts, low rise jeans and fitted T's were named as popular back-to-school fashion trends among student and parent shoppers -- each selected by about 15 percent of respondents," according to the first installment of the Shopping In America survey released in late July. The survey also showed mall specialty and department stores as the top back-to-school shopping sources and that shoppers will spend an average of nearly $615.00 on related purchases.
Shopping In America is a national survey that studies consumer shopping trends. Survey malls are geographically spread proportionately among the four major U.S. Census regions, approximating the weight of the population residing in those regions. There are 20 participating malls located in 18 states; 14 of the shopping malls are Macerich owned. More information about the Shopping in America surveys as well as recently released Back-to-School 2004 shopping research, can be found at www.shoppinginamerica.biz.
The Macerich Company is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. The Company is the sole general partner and owns an 81% ownership interest in The Macerich Partnership, L.P. Macerich now owns interests in properties totaling approximately 61 million square feet consisting primarily of interests in 62 regional malls. Additional information about The Macerich Company can be obtained from the Company's website at www.macerich.com.
CONTACT: Lovell Public Relations
Tresa Hardt/Kim Craig, 972-788-4511
thardt@lovellpr.com or kcraig@lovellpr.com
SOURCE: The Macerich Company