Mintel has looked at women’s general attitudes and behaviour in its Lifestyles report series in the Women Special report published in 2000.

This new report has three main focus areas:

• The way women’s lives have changed over the last decade

• Female input into the purchase decision-making process, especially for major purchases

• Female attitudes towards shopping in general, and their attitudes towards, and usage of Internet shopping in particular.

A complementary report, Men’s Changing Lifestyles – UK, Special Report, September 2003, has also been published.

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Research

Mintel commissioned original research from NOP in April 2003 among a sample of 4,040 adults aged 15+, including 2,097 women. The research looked at the decision-making process when making major purchases, including cars, holidays, mortgages, home improvements and brown and white goods, and also covered living arrangements. As well as looking at the attitudes and habits of women in different demographic sub-groups, the analysis of this research takes into account household earning patterns, using the following categories:

Single households

• Single earner: working full-time, no partner

• Low/no earner single: under 65, not working full-time, no partner

• Retired single households: over 65, not working full-time, no partner.

Couple/family households

• Two earner: both partners working full-time

• New traditional: male working full-time, female working part-time

• Traditional: male working full-time, female not working

• Non-traditional: female partner working full-time, male working part-time or not working

• Low/no earner (couple): under 65, no full-time earner in household

• Retired couples: over 65, no full-time earner in household.

The report also makes use of findings from the annual TGI surveys from BMRB, providing a historical view where appropriate with comparative findings from 1993, 1998 and 2003. A detailed analysis of findings by lifestage and household type is also given, using the TGI Lifestage Group definitions:

Fledglings	15-34, not married and have no son or daughter, living with own parents
Flown the Nest	15-34, not married, do not live with relations
Nest Builders	15-34, married, do not live with son/daughter
Mid-life Independents	35-54, not married, do not live with relations
Unconstrained Couples	35-54, married, do not live with son/daughter
Playschool Parents	Live with son/daughter, and with youngest child being 0-4
Primary School Parents	Live with son/daughter, and with youngest child being 5-9
Secondary School Parents	Live with son/daughter, and with youngest child being 10-15
Hotel Parents	35+, live with son/daughter, and have no child 0-15
Senior Sole Decision Makers	55+, not married and live alone
Empty Nesters	55+, married, and do not live with son/daughter.

As well as these two research sources, the report draws on data from research by MORI into the use of the Internet by women. Again there is a historical perspective, with data going back three years.

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Report structure

The structure of the report is as follows:

Female Demographics

This section looks at the current status of women in society, and also how this has changed over the past decade – examining areas such as age, socio-economic group, working status, marital status, motherhood, tenure and living arrangements.

Changing Attitudes and Lifestyles

This section looks at the lifestyles of women today – including their home lives, their working lives, their leisure habits and their health. It also examines the ways in which their attitudes and habits have changed over the past decade.

Purchase Decision-Making

This section looks at some of the processes women go through when making major purchase decisions in a number of product areas:

• cars

• holidays

• home-related purchases including home improvements, kitchen appliances and mortgages

• audio-visual appliances

• home computers

Shopping and Internet Usage

Here Mintel takes a detailed look at women’s attitudes towards shopping in general, and at the information-gathering process, including the use of the Internet, both as a means of getting information and for actually making purchases.

The Future

This section summarises the main findings of the report by women in various lifestages, namely:

• Young, free and single

• Young couples

• Family women

• Older women

• Working women.

Mintel is able to offer further analysis of its exclusive research, tailored to individual clients' needs. It is possible, for example, to net and/or combine codes to create new attitudinal, usage or demographic groups, and cross-analysis can show how the answers to any questions or categories are related. For further details and a quote, please call our statisticians – Peter Ayton, Shaheed Alam or Yemisi Williams – on 020 7606 4533.

Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

The following reports may also be of relevance:

• Men’s Changing Lifestyles – UK, Special Report, September 2003

• Selling to, and Profiting, from Families – UK, Special Report, July 2003

• Selling to, and Profiting, from ABs – UK, Special Report, June 2003

• Healthy Lifestyles or Putting on the Pounds – UK, Special Report, April 2003

• Selling to, and Profiting from, Single Households – UK, Special Report, March 2003

• Selling to, and Profiting from, the Knowledgeable, Sophisticated Consumer – UK, Special Report, December 2002

• Selling to, and Profiting from, C2Ds – UK, Special Report, October 2002

• Teenage Leisure – UK, Special Report, July 2002

• Marketing to Tomorrow's Consumer – UK, Special Report, April 2002

• British Lifestyles – 2003, Special Report – UK, January 2003

• Marketing to Children Aged 7-10 – UK, Special Report, December 2001

• Marketing to Rural Areas – UK, Special Report, October 2001

• Marketing to Londoners – UK, Special Report, October 2001

• Marketing to ABs – UK, Special Report, June 2001

• Gay Lifestyles – UK, Special Report, May 2001

• Healthy Lifestyles: Healthy Halos, Healthy Aware or Reckless Risk-takers – UK, Special Report, April 2001

• Marketing to Singles – UK, Special Report, March 2001

• 2020 Vision: Tomorrow's Consumer – UK, Special Report, March 2000

• Third Age – UK, Special Report, August 2001

• Family Lifestyles and the Effect of Work – UK, Special Report, April 2000

• Scottish Lifestyles – UK, Special Report, November 2000

• Two-earner Couple Households – UK, Special Report, October 2000.

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Abbreviations

BMRB	British Market Research Bureau
DVD	Digital Versatile Disk
GAD	Government Actuary Department
MORI	Market and Opinion Research International
NOP	National Opinion Polls
TGI	Target Group Index. For further details concerning this information, including data on readership patterns of users/purchasers and details of brands, please contact Phil Greenslade at BMRB International on 020 8566 5000 or via email at phil.greenslade@bmrb.co.uk