Key findings from the report:

Despite the common preconception that teenagers and adults have different shopping habits and preferences, this research concludes that today’s teenagers think like their parents. The views of adults and teenagers on many issues explored are closely aligned. However there are certain experiences and attitudes where they differ which will impact on their approach to grocery shopping in the future. 

Teenagers’ attitudes to downloading and instant messaging signify a strong need for immediacy. How does on-line shopping fit with this mindset and will current fulfilment mechanisms be a barrier to using the internet to shop in the future?

Although adults and teenagers both indicate similar attitudes to brand preferences across categories, teenagers are more likely to change store if the brand they want is not available. For a retailer this can be a significant issue as this does not just mean the loss of a sale for one item but potentially a full shopping trip.

Brand heritage and company reputation are important to the success of a brand while the ethics surrounding the brand are also very important. The focus on ethics is not only important for brand manufacturers but also something which retailers are increasingly concentrating on.

The current and future progress of technology services in store is counter-balanced by the need for shopping with some form of “human contact”. For many shoppers, an assistant who simply puts items through the checkout and takes payment is not enough.

There is no indication from respondents that we will be a cashless society in 10 years time as 39% of teenagers and 30% of adults said they are likely to use cash. However a significant number of respondents also indicated that they would be willing to use biometric payments such as fingerprint or iris recognition in the future.