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MP93273

MAPS THE SINGLES MARKET: APRIL 2003

Overview

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This report covers: marriage and divorce trends,cohabiting, living alone, singles and housing market,shopping alone, shopping as a social activity,dating agencies, online dating agencies, internet dating services, leisure activities, meeting people,entertaining at home, pubs and clubs,visits abroad,singles holidays, short-break holidays, gay markets, the pink pound, attitudes towards finance, socialising, pensions and other markets,

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 6

1. Introduction 9

REPORT FOCUS 9

DEFINITION 9

2. Strategic Overview 10

DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND 10

Population by Age and Sex 10

Table 1: The UK Population by Age and Sex ( percent and million), 1961-2026 11

Population by Marital Status 11

Table 2: The British Population† by Marital Status and Sex ( percent), 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2000 12

Marriage Trends in the UK 12

Table 3: UK Marriage and Divorce Trends (000), 1950, 1972, 1999 and 2000 13

Family Formation 13

Table 4: Average Age of Mother at Childbirth (years), 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2000 14

Figure 1: Average Age of Mother at Childbirth (years), 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2000 14

Table 5: Non-Married People Cohabiting by Sex and Age ( percent), 2001 15

Figure 2: Non-Married People Cohabiting by Sex and Age ( percent), 2001 16

Single Person Households by Age 16

Table 6: British Population Living Alone by Age ( percent), 1991-2001 17

Figure 3: British Population Living Alone by Age ( percent), 1991-2001 17

Single Person Households by Age and Gender 18

Table 7: British Population Living Alone by Sex and Age ( percent), 2001 18

Figure 4: British Population Living Alone by Sex and Age ( percent), 2001 19

Household Tenure by Marital Status and Gender 19

Table 8: Household Tenure by Marital Status of British Males ( percent), 2001 20

Table 9: Household Tenure by Marital Status of British Females ( percent), 2001 21

Singles and the Housing Market 22

THE ECONOMY 23

EMPLOYMENT 24

Table 10: UK Economic Activity by Sex and Employment Status of Economically Active (million), 1987 and 2002 24

Table 11: EU Employment by Sex, Employment Status and Country ( percent), 2001 25

3. Shopping 26

EXPENDITURE OF ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS 26

Table 12: UK Household Expenditure on Selected Items by Type of Family (£ per week), 2001/2002 26

SHOPPING 27

Shopping Alone (S1) 27

Shopping As a Social Activity (S2) 27

Table 13: Attitudes Towards Shopping ( percent of respondents), 2001 28

Shopping Outside Normal Hours (S3) 30

Table 14: Attitudes Towards Shopping Outside Normal Hours ( percent of respondents), 2002 31

4. Finance 33

ATTITUDES TOWARDS Personal FINANCES 33

To Spend or to Save (S4) 33

Table 15: Attitudes Towards Personal Finances ( percent of respondents), 2002 34

ATTITUDES TOWARDS FINANCIAL PRODUCTS 36

Buying Financial Products (S5) 36

Table 16: Attitudes Towards Financial Products ( percent of respondents), 2002 37

Pension Cover (S6) 38

Table 17: Attitudes Towards Pension Cover ( percent of respondents), 2002 39

The Pensions Market 40

Single People and Independent Financial Advice (S7) 41

Table 18: Attitudes Towards Financial Advice ( percent of respondents), 2002 43

5. The Single Lifestyle 44

OVERVIEW 44

Being Single — an Advantage or Disadvantage? (S8) 44

Table 19: Attitudes Towards Being Single ( percent of respondents), 2002 45

To Be or Not To Be Single (S9) 47

Meeting One's Match (S10) 47

Table 20: Attitudes Towards Marital Status and Meeting a Partner ( percent of respondents), 2002 48

The Dating Agency 50

The Online Dating Agency 50

Using Dating Agencies and Internet Dating Services (S11) 51

Table 21: Attitudes Towards Dating Services ( percent of respondents), 2002 52

Meeting New Partners at Work (S12) 54

Table 22: Attitudes Towards Meeting a New Partner ( percent of respondents), 2002 55

Meeting People — Location, Location 56

High and Low Concentration of Singles by Location 57

`Where it's Hot' (according to www.house.co.uk): 57

`Where it's Not Hot' (according to www.house.co.uk): 57

Taking up Leisure Activities and Meeting People 58

Attitudes to Taking up New Leisure Activities (S13) 58

Table 23: Attitudes Towards Taking Up New Leisure Activities ( percent of respondents), 2002 59

Entertaining at Home (S14) 61

Going to Pubs and Clubs (S15) 61

Table 24: Attitudes Towards Socialising ( percent of respondents), 2002 62

6. The Holiday Market 64

OVERVIEW 64

Visits Abroad 65

Table 25: Visits Abroad by Region (000), 1989 and 1999-2001 65

Spending Abroad 66

Table 26: Spending Abroad by Region (£m and percent), 1989 and 1999-2001 66

Visits Abroad and Spending by Age Group and Destination 66

Table 27: Visits and Spending Abroad by Age Group and Region (000 and £m), 2001 67

Table 28: Top Destinations for Visits and Spending by Adults Aged 18 to 24 Years Old (000 and £m), 2001 68

Table 29: Top Destinations for Visits and Spending by Adults Aged 25 to 34 Years Old (000 and £m), 2001 69

Table 30: Top Destinations for Visits and Spending by Adults Aged 35 to 44 Years Old (000 and £m), 2001 70

Popular Destinations — Trends in Popularity 71

Table 31: Destination `If Money Were No Object' ( percent), 2002 71

Singles and Activity Holidays (S16 and S17) 72

Table 32: Activity Holiday Taking Overall ( percent of respondents), 2000 73

The Singles Holiday 75

Attitudes to the Singles Holiday (S18) 76

Singles and Short-Break Holidays (S19) 76

Table 33: Attitudes Towards Singles and Short-Break Holidays ( percent of respondents), 2002 77

7. The Pink Pound 79

OVERVIEW 79

GAY DEMOGRAPHICS 79

Key Features of Gay Markets 80

The Pink Pound and Holidays 81

8. Advertising and Popular Culture 82

OVERVIEW 82

MEDIA IMAGES OF SINGLE STATUS 82

9. Consumer Dynamics 84

INTRODUCTION 84

SHOPPING 84

Shopping Alone (S1) 84

Shopping As a Social Activity (S2) 84

Table 34: Attitudes Towards Shopping ( percent of respondents), 2001 85

Shopping Outside Normal Hours (S3) 87

Table 35: Attitudes Towards Shopping Outside Normal Hours ( percent of respondents), 2002 88

FINANCE 90

To Spend or to Save (S4) 90

Table 36: Attitudes Towards Personal Finances ( percent of respondents), 2002 91

Buying Financial Products (S5) 93

Table 37: Attitudes Towards Financial Products ( percent of respondents), 2002 94

Pension Cover (S6) 95

Table 38: Attitudes Towards Pension Cover ( percent of respondents), 2002 96

Single People and Independent Financial Advice (S7) 97

Table 39: Attitudes Towards Financial Advice ( percent of respondents), 2002 99

LIFESTYLE 100

Being Single — Advantage or Disadvantage? (S8) 100

Table 40: Attitudes Towards Being Single ( percent of respondents), 2002 101

To Be or Not To Be Single (S9) 103

Meeting One's Match (S10) 103

Table 41: Attitudes Towards Marital Status and Meeting a Partner ( percent of respondents), 2002 104

Using Dating Agencies and Internet Dating Services (S11) 106

Meeting Partners at Work (S12) 106

Table 42: Attitudes Towards Dating Services, and Towards Meeting a New Partner at Work ( percent of respondents), 2002 107

Attitudes to Taking up New Leisure Activities (S13) 108

Table 43: Attitudes Towards Taking Up New Leisure Activities ( percent of respondents), 2002 109

Entertaining at Home (S14) 111

Going to Pubs and Clubs (S15) 111

Table 44: Attitudes Towards Socialising ( percent of respondents), 2002 112

HOLIDAYS 114

Singles and Activity Holidays (S16 and S17) 114

Table 45: Activity Holiday Taking Overall ( percent of respondents), 2000 115

Attitudes to the Singles Holiday (S18) 117

Singles and Short-Break Holidays (S19) 117

Table 46: Attitudes Towards Singles and Short-Break Holidays ( percent of respondents), 2002 118

10. The Future 120

GENERAL 120

DATING 120

HOLIDAYS 121

PENSIONS AND OTHER MARKETS 121

11. Further Sources 122

Associations 122

Publications 123

General Sources 123

Bonnier Information Sources 124

Government Publications 125

Other Sources 126

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Single status is increasingly becoming a norm in society just as marriage is no longer a dominant force among the majority of the population. In 1971, a quarter of men (24 percent) and a fifth of women (19 percent) were single; this rose to around a third of men (34 percent) and a quarter of women (26 percent) in 2000. The main factors in this shift are the huge increase in the number of divorces, as well as the increase in cohabitation, which means that, in 2000, only just over a half of men (54 percent) and women (52 percent) were married.

The shifts in family formation have brought a number of changes to what being `single' means, not least to the negative status of being a spinster or bachelor — terms that are, significantly, no longer in common use. The decision to delay marriage and have children is the major contributory factor to the higher proportion of singles in their 20s and 30s. As a result, the proportion of those in the 25 to 44 age group who are single and living alone rose from 7 percent in 1991 to 12 percent in 2001.

Shifts in the formation of relationships and families mean that it is increasingly hard to determine who is single and who is not. The British Household Panel Survey has found that, from age 30 to 50, only around 15 percent of single people were `completely single' at any one time. The survey found that among those aged over 30, the notion of singleness is very much that of a temporary state between relationships. There is clearly a new category of `LATs' — those living apart `together', who count for around a third of all nominally `single people'. Singles should not, therefore, be identified as a homogenous group.

Setting up home is perhaps one of the most defining steps that adults make in their lives. However, it is becoming more and more difficult for single people to take this step alone. Single men aged under 45 are still nearly three times as likely to do so than single women. They often have more spending power than women and are even more likely than women to marry late. Data published by mortgage brokers Charcol and leading building societies show that, in London (and soon nationally), singles have become the biggest players on the housing market. However, they are finding home purchase more problematic as prices soar and they are tending to delay purchase until well into their 30s. In London, the under-25s now make up only 5 percent of buyers. In 1985, almost a third were in this age group. As a result of these difficulties, there has been a sharp rise in the number of single people clubbing together to buy a house or seeking help from family support.

Singles remain, however, key spenders in markets for leisure services. Households with children spend more of their income on items such as food and domestic appliances; couples with no children or single adults spend proportionately more on, for example, restaurant meals and holidays abroad.

Although the majority of singles do shop alone, they are just as likely as other adults to want to pursue other social activities when they shop.

Almost one in three (32 percent) of the young singles interviewed for Key Note's National Opinion Poll (NOP) survey tend to spend, rather than save, their money. The savings habit is not as widespread as it was, with four out of ten (41 percent) single adults aged under 24 expressing a preference to spend rather than save. Levels of affluence are clearly important here, with groups such as women more likely to have less money available to put by. Given this variation, it is perhaps surprising that young single women are slightly more likely to have bought a new financial product in the past 12 months. More affluent AB single adults are more likely than those in the C1C2DE groups to have purchased these kinds of products — indicating that marketers have a long way to go to successfully target less affluent adults. This contrast is even greater in the levels of confidence expressed among single adults in the pension cover they have. Key Note data also indicate that affluence alone is not the only determinant of patterns of seeking advice on financial matters. Marriage and other related events such as home purchase also lead to increased consultation of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs). Singles are more keen on recognised outlets, such as their banks, as providers of information on financial products, or on informal sources, such as friends and family.

More young people remain single for longer than ever before and singles' lifestyles and attitudes to remaining single are altering at a rapid rate. In broad terms, being single is still viewed as a temporary state with some disadvantages. Women and the less affluent are more likely to see their single status positively. The majority of single people would like to meet a new partner in the next 5 years. The late 20s and early 30s are a critical period for people to find a partner. After this time, singles tend to be more relaxed about their marital status. Although few respondents (3 percent) admit to using dating services, use of Internet dating agencies in particular is on the increase. Key Note's survey also shows widely diverging patterns of meeting new potential partners between the sexes. Men (10 percent), for example, are far more likely to either take up a new social activity or to seek entertainment outside the home than women (3 percent).

Key Note analysis of the market for singles holidays indicates that the sector remains underdeveloped to meet the demand from increasing numbers of single people. Despite the rise in holiday-taking and in the proportion of young adults who are single, the offer of mainstream holiday providers to single people remains limited. Independent holidays and low-cost airlines have provided a new flexibility which single people are making the most of, but more imaginative holiday offers by mainstream providers, particularly for younger, less affluent singles, remain underdeveloped. The holiday industry could take a lead from the recent success of gay holiday companies, which have consolidated and expanded a small market by offering tailor-made package holidays to their target audience.

The `in-between' status of singles, often affluent and overworked, has been the subject of many media treatments in recent years. Marketers and markets have been quick to identify singles as their most desired customers, particularly younger singles with high spends and disposable incomes, but there is clearly great potential for a more sophisticated approach in marketing. Singles represent a time-poor section of the community — whose main underlying preoccupation may be to find Mr. or Miss Right. Anita Roddick, the entrepreneur and founder of The Body Shop, criticised the travel industry recently in the Travel Trade Gazette for failing to create products which will be popular with young singles. `Any business which can tackle loneliness,' she said, `will have a billion pound turnover.' A similar challenge can also be said to exist for the financial sector to tackle the widespread `spend now' mentality of singles. However, in the long term, both leisure and financial markets will have to adapt to the reality that being single will be a conscious choice for an increasing number of adults. In this eventuality, more variation in lifestyles and markets will emerge, particularly for men and women in their late 30s and 40s. This variation will often occur along gender-specific lines.

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Last updated by Amanda Porteous June 2003