Kids are influencing purchase decisions every day among the millions of US households with children. Nearly all parents agree that they ask for their kids’ opinions before purchasing products. The critical issue for marketers is to understand how parents and kids relate to each other. Messaging crafted toward relevant interactions between parent and child will be most effective. For example, while dads are more likely to engage in activities grounded in technology with their kids, moms spend more time shopping with their kids.

Readers of this report will learn how parents are influenced by their kids and the attitudes and behaviors of kids regarding purchasing decisions. By understanding the influential relationship between kids and parents marketers can more effectively target a family audience that is engaged and ready to buy.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Kid As Influencers – US, June 2011 and Family Purchases – Kids as Influencers – US, June 2010. Readers of this report may also be interested in Mintel’s Marketing to Kids – US, October 2012, Kids and Dining Out – US, July 2013, and Activities of Kids and Teens – US, November 2013, as well as Mintel’s Marketing to Kids and Tweens – US, May 2014.

For the purposes of this report, the “influence of kids” is defined as the influence on family purchases wielded by kids aged 6-11 (according to their parents).

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumer attitudes towards products and marketing aimed at kids. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in February 2014 among a sample of 1,037 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet who are parents of children aged 6-11.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire US adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region. For the purposes of this report, Mintel augmented the sample to include an additional 300 parents of kids aged 6-8 and 300 parents of kids aged 9-11. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in Mintel’s survey results. Please note that Mintel’s exclusive surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in Mintel’s survey results.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the NHCS (Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study) and the Simmons NCS Kids Study.

The Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS was carried out during November 2012-December 2013 based on the sample of 21,659 adults aged 18+, with results weighted to represent the US adult population. The Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NCS Kids Study was conducted during November 2012-December 2013 based on a sample of 1,882 kids aged 6-11, with results weighted to represent the US kid population.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report:

Generations are discussed within this report, and they are defined as:

* Also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers.