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MP93148

MAPS THE YOUTH MARKET JULY 1998

Overview

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The first key issue is that young people are not a homogenous group. Indeed, there is arguably no more disparate an age grouping than 15-24, with the nine year age range including a plethora of life stages, from being at school and living in the family home, to working full time, and living in one’s own home with a spouse and children.

Below is a selection of some of the life stage options available between the ages of 15 and 24:

· School - living at home

· 6^th form college - living at home

· School - boarding

· Single parent - living at home

· Single parent - own accommodation

· College - living at home

· College - own accommodation

· Work - living at home

• Work - own accommodation

• Unemployed - living at home

· Unemployed - own accommodation

Secondly, the age range 15 to 24 covers the period when people come of age, moving from childhood to adulthood. Whereas young people have little independence and few rights at the age of 15, this changes considerably from the age of 16+. Between the ages of 16 to 18 young people can choose to leave school or home, engage in a sexual relationship, marry, smoke, drive, drink and vote. Between the ages of 15 and 24, most young people also have their first experience of college life, job training and work. In other words, it is generally a very event-packed nine year period.

A third key issue that needs highlighting is that being young today is in many ways radically different than in other eras, particularly compared with how things were in the 1960s, when many of the parents of today’s young people were themselves between 15 and 24.

Lastly, there is a very good case for segmenting young people by age, in terms of whether they fall between the ages of 15 to 17, or 18 to 24. This is for the following reasons.

· Each year fewer and fewer young people are leaving school below the age of 18. Many of these under 18 year olds are unencumbered with financial responsibilities, with big cost items such as hi-fi equipment, personal computers, games playstations, satellite TV subscriptions, etc frequently purchased by parents, leaving the 15-17 year olds with few financial commitments and often quite considerable disposable income.

· The under 18s also have a lot of indirect influence or ‘pester power’, in terms of determining what parents buy, this being particularly the case regarding home entertainment items as featured above. As a consequence, many under 18s are very materialistic, and would appear to ‘have it all’, in terms of hi-tech equipment. Indeed, more of today’s under 18s own a TV than a book. Eighty percent of 15 year olds have their own TV with 50 percent having access to a PC at home.

· Under 18s are also in the market for a largely different set of products than is the case for those 18 and over.

· Those aged 18 and over, however, tend to have more financial obligations than those under 18, for example paying for accommodation, transportation, PC hardware, software and holidays, not forgetting paying off the student loan for those attending college, and, as from 1998, the extra burden of paying for tuition fees for higher education. As a consequence, many young people aged 18 and over do not have a great deal of disposable income.

· As well as differences, there are, of course, many areas of commonality between young people across the 15 to 24 age spread. Most 15 to 24 year olds live at home in the family home, with no responsibility for a partner, or a child, and have wide access to home entertainment hardware.

· Lastly, turning attention to what young people buy, most 15 to 24 year olds like to demonstrate their new found independence by purchasing items for themselves, usually low cost, on a regular basis. In making such purchases, young people are often making a personal statement about themselves, with no other party representing the younger person’s interest, eg parents involved in the transaction.

Purchases costing under £10 are often made from disposable income, from money that is readily available. These purchases can also be spur of the moment, eg CDsingles, magazines, video rental, cinema, alcohol, cigarettes, soft drinks, fast food and toiletries.

In order to fund items over £10, some saving on the part of the younger person is usually involved. Such purchases might include jeans, trainers, computer games software, music CDs and a night out.

The focus of the market report featured in section five (Key Markets), is therefore, based upon lower cost, leisure orientated, lifestyle products, that younger people buy for themselves with their own money on a regular basis. As well as accounting for the bulk of transactions, such purchases demonstrate the personal priorities and tastes of 15 to 24 year old consumers.

Specific markets covered are:

· Drinks Soft drinks, alcohol

· Personal image Jeans, leisure footwear, health clubs & leisure centres

· Leisure Recorded music, men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines

Text © 1998 MAPS

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