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BRITAIN'S NEW GENERATION OF "TRY IT AND SEE" LIFE SHOPPERS
28th July 2005
MEET…. THE YEPPIES
New findings reveal today's young adults are conducting their lives in the same way they might shop for latest fashions - even when it comes to making important life decisions such as marriage, careers, children and where to live. In a new report commissioned by eBay, these 'Life Shoppers' have been defined as YEPPIES - Young, Experimenting, Perfection-seekers.
eBay teamed up with Kate Fox, social anthropologist from the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) and author of current bestseller "Watching the English", to study the behaviour of today's young adults and discover this new breed.
The research revealed today's 'Life Shoppers' are experimental in their approach to jobs, relationships, homes, identities and lifestyles. The natural consequence is that grown-up decisions are being postponed until young adults are completely satisfied they have exhausted all the options.
Common 'shopping' behaviours such as browsing, impulse buying and savvy purchasing are being honed on sites like eBay.co.uk and applied to the life-changing decisions that herald becoming an adult. eBay shoppers bought over $1.4bn of goods on the UK site in Q1 2005 in a clear demonstration of these new and improved shopping skills.
Kate Fox comments, "Unlike the Yuppies of the 1980s, who were motivated by money and status and knew how to get both, our research for eBay reveals today's young adults are less certain and less single-mindedly materialistic than their predecessors. YEPPIES are unsure about how to achieve their ambitions so they experiment, through a shopping-style approach, trying to find the perfect job, the ideal relationship and the most fulfilling lifestyle.
"We are seeing the postponement of adulthood where it will be increasingly regarded as normal for young people to continue 'Life Shopping' well into their late 20s and 30s. The way things are going, by 2012 thirty will be the new twenty as the 'official' age for transition to adulthood; people getting married in their twenties will be regarded as too young or too immature to make such a big decision. "
Key evidence revealed in the Life Shopping report includes:
- Job Shopping - the number of jobs young people have in their first three years of employment has doubled since 1975 from two to four. Over half of all job changes occur before the age of 30, and a quarter before the age of 20.
- Mate Shopping - in 1971, the average age at first marriage was 25 for men and 23 for women - by 2003, this had increased to 31 for men and 29 for women. In addition since 1990, the average number of partners among the 16-44 age group has increased from two to four among women, and from four to six among men.
- Keeping options open - the average age of married first-time mothers increased by almost six years between 1971 and 2003 from 24 to 29.9. In 2004, around 40% of 24-29 year old males and around 25% of females were still living with their parents.
The report also identifies a number of Life Shopping types:
- Smart life-shoppers are systematic and judicious about their task, doing their research, comparing options, weighing up pros and cons and making informed decisions (a celebrity example could include Madonna and the careful balance she has achieved of being an internationally acclaimed pop star and best-selling children's author)
- Browsers and impulsive life-shoppers often drift from job to job; changing partners, post-grad courses or career tracks on a whim; dropping it all to go travelling or have yet another gap-year… (celebrity examples include Chris Evans when he left his first wife and then met Billie Piper; he also switched from TV presenting to radio DJ'ing, to production to having a few years off travelling)
- Fashion-victim life shoppers often choose careers and lifestyles based on what sounds or looks good. They are easily swayed by glamour and kudos rather than by searching for options that really suit their skills or personalities (celebrity example could include Posh Spice switching from a pop career to acting and then fashionista in a bid to keep up with what is "cool")
Charlie Coney, a spokesperson for eBay, comments on the findings; "The rise of 'Life Shoppers' or, more explicitly, a generation of YEPPIES reveals how much we've come to rely upon our shopping skills and habits to navigate our way through life's decisions.
"This research reveals we apply a similar approach for getting a new job or partner as we do when buying a mobile phone or an item of clothing - as reflected in our customers' shopping habits. Going from zero to over 10 million eBay customers in the UK over a period of 5 years demonstrates our insatiable appetite for shopping but also highlights a need to recycle possessions, indicating that we are indeed going through more houses, jobs and partners than ever before."
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