Gen Alpha Is Rewriting the Path to Purchase. Here Are 5 Ways Brands Can Keep Up
By Mike Black, Chief Growth Officer, Collage Group
Gen Alpha is a Digital First generation. They have grown up with the presence of YouTube, Roblox, TikTok, streaming, smart speakers and AI assistants in the rituals of their daily life.
I’ve observed this personally. I have three Gen Alpha nephews and whenever I go to visit them at their house, they barely look up from their screens unless it’s to show me a Hamster video on YouTube.
What’s interesting to me is not that Gen Alpha is growing up digital first, but the impact all this digital access is having on the household path to purchase.
Gen Alpha isn't passively observing and absorbing culture as it occurs around them. They're actively making judgements about what is sensible to buy and taking choices to the family discussion. In Collage Group's 2026 Gen Alpha study of 6–13-year-old children and their parents, 73% of parents say that their child is the first to inform them about something new or popular. 66% report that their kid affects the family's choice of products and brands. 81% say that their child has favorite brands.
Traditionally, the household buying process has been regarded as a parent-centric process. Reach the adult. Make the case. Win the household. This isn't true for Gen Alpha. Kids are coming to know about the brand first through YouTube, games, creators, friends, AI, etc. Parents do make a difference, but across many categories, they are no longer decision makers but validators.
This is a new challenge for brands: get the kid's attention and get the parent's approval.
Here are now 5 ways to do just that.
1. Stop treating discovery as one and done
Gen Alpha’s discovery engine is messy, social and fragmented. In our study, we found that 65% of kids discover new interests through YouTube, 60% through friends, 47% through parents, 43% through school, 41% through TV and movies, 39% through video games and 31% through TikTok.
This means brands must think in terms of discovery systems, versus one-off campaigns. Messaging should cascade from creator to creator and from short-form video to games, to packaging to peer culture. Since kids are often the ones introducing something to new the home, give them something that they can easily see, remember and speak about.
2. Start designing for asking, not just searching
One out of every two kids ages 6 to 13 interacts with Alexa, Siri or ChatGPT every day or several times a week. 19% already ask AI if a new toy/item is good. Of those kids who use AI, 59% using it for information on the go or information search, 42% are using it for help with school assignments and 30% are using it for creating something
That doesn't mean that AI has replaced creators, friends or parents. It does, however, indicate that AI is becoming a different way that children are able to gain information and make decisions.
The question for brands can't just be "Are we showing up in search? It should also be, “What is the question a kid might ask an AI assistant?” “What's good'?”
Brands will need to do the less glamorous work well. Product information must be easy to find, trust must be built outside the brand’s own channels, and parents need simple proof points. In an AI-driven shopping journey, being easy to explain may matter as much as being easy to find.
3. Give parents a reason to say yes
The Gen Alpha household is an area of continuous and ongoing haggling. Kids can make the request, but there needs to be a justification for a parent to feel good about the decision to say “yes.”
That means that brands are expected to do "double duty". The kid facing layer must create excitement: Fun, aesthetics, creator relevance, customization, status, play. The parent facing layer must create permission to approve confidence of safety, value, usefulness, age appropriateness, nutrition, durability or learning.
Too many brands still consider winning the household a stand-alone proposition. Instead, they need to think of the household as a 2X2 grid and develop messages, products and experiences that achieve high demand / high permission in the upper right.
4. Hand kids some control
Gen Alpha doesn’t just want to consume; they also want the agency to create. 70% of kids ages 6 to 13 would like to design a toy or make their own clothes or snack in a game or store. 83% like changing food orders to make it their desired way.
That translates to flexible ordering and kid-controlled personalization for QSR brands. For CPG brands, it means packaging, flavors or limited runs where you can get involved. In retail it's about giving kids choices that are liberating and empowering, but where the guardrails aren't taken away.
Gen Alpha was raised on games like Roblox where they have control and create their own world and they expect brands to give them the same access to control, too.
5. Make the digital experience match the physical spark
Kids may first notice a product online, but what they see in the store, on the package or in real life can still shape what they want. In fact, 76% of parents say kids are more likely to want a product if it has a cool look or aesthetic they have seen online. And 62% of kids ages 6 to 13 say they would still rather get a real toy than something inside a video game.
That means brands cannot focus only on digital discovery. They also need to think about what happens when a child sees the product in the real world.
The product should be easy to recognize, exciting to look at and simple for a child to ask for. The package, design, colors and in-store experience all matter. For Gen Alpha, the digital spark may start the interest, but the physical experience can help turn that interest into a purchase.
Conclusion
Gen Alpha is changing how families decide what to buy in bigger ways than many brands realize. Kids are learning about brands earlier and finding them in more places. They see products in videos, games, creator posts, stores and conversations with friends. Then they bring those ideas home.
Parents still matter and still make the final call in many cases. But kids are often starting the conversation. That means brands need to earn interest from kids and trust from parents.
The brands that keep up will understand that the path to purchase is no longer just about reaching the adult but about understanding how the whole family makes decisions.
Kids may create the first spark, but parents still decide whether it becomes a purchase. To win the household, your brand must be a peacemaker in that negotiation.
To download Collage Group’s report, Kid-Powered. Parent-Approved. How Gen Alpha Is Rewriting the Path to Purchase, go here