Report: Double Income No Kids

Top Brands

What are your top brands for skin care/ cosmetics & why?
The male respondents expressed very little loyalty towards skin care brands whereas females like to buy products that are environmentally friendly and have the ‘pamper’ factor, meaning they like luxury products like Clarins.

When buying cleaning products what is more important price/brands? Why?
When buying a cleaning solutions price is more important than brand but performance is also important and respondents will pay a little bit extra for products that work.

Again environmental issues are important and respondents prefer products that do the less damage to the planet.

Which are the best car brands and why?
Respondents were generally happy with their car named these as the best brands. This demographic needs a reliable car and many were thinking about the future and want a car that will be suitable for a family as their next car purchase.

Which are your favourite brands for alcoholic and soft drinks?
Premier brands are a must when it comes to alcoholic drinks; respondents want to drink big brand names such as Smirnoff, Jack Daniels and Gordon because they trust them to deliver quality drinks. Price is not as important as quality in this category.

Coca Cola brands were the most frequently mentioned soft drinks and mixers.

Which is your top mobile phone brand and why?
Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola score tops marks for their user-friendly format and reliability. Functionality rather than aesthetics is the order of the day when it comes to buying mobile phones and respondents prefer to stick to the brands they know and can use.

Finance

Who do you bank with & what could they do to improve their service?
The main irritations are having to wait in the branch for too long, respondents would like to see more staff members, especially at busy times and the weekend. Banks could also improve their service for this life stage by extending open hours to fit around work.

What do you do to try and save money?
Saving money at the supermarket by taking advantage of special offers and writing lists and sticking to them rather than being influenced by marketing in store.
Interestingly respondents also try to save money in the home by buying energy saving light bulbs and trying to reduce heating and petrol bills.

Are you on the property ladder/ how do you plan to get on it?
Respondents are struggling to get onto the property ladder with the rising cost of housing and rent.

Do you have a pension – what do you do? Why?
Most of the respondents have a pension through work but admit that they know nothing about how it works and haven’t set up anything themselves.

How do you go about choosing insurance?
Time poor respondents like to be able to search for deals quickly, over the internet and like added extras like breakdown cover and special deals.

Media & Technology

What were the last three websites you visited? Why?
DINKYs use the internet to check email, contact friends and do day to day chores like buy grocery and book holidays. Top sites visited include Ebay, Hotmail, Yahoo, Google, Youtube and Myspace.

How do you keep informed of the latest news?
Very few respondents buy a daily paper, preferring to get information online at the BBC News website or through the radio.

The most popular time to watch the news is in the morning before work.

Were you pleased with the last gadget/electrical product you bought?iPods having been the most recent purchase and respondents were generally happy with the product, except for the price.

How do you get hold of the music you want to listen to?
Interestingly the majority of respondents still prefer to buy CDs in store than download tunes at HMV and Tesco.

Though the advantages of online purchases mentioned include being able to listen to 30 second previews before buying which is impossible in store.

What type of advertising do you think is the most effective?
TV was a clear favourite due to its visual impact. Respondents found it the most engaging and memorable and particularly like the recent Honda advert, which was the most recalled ad.

Radio was deemed the second most effective method and interestingly online advertising wasn’t mentioned by any of the respondents.

Retail

How much do you spend on food & what’s important when buying food?£40-50 is the average amount spent per week on food by DINKYs. It is important to have on offer lots of fresh fruit & vegetable which has a long shelf life and a big range of healthy and organic food.

What are your favourite clothes shops and why?
DINKYs do not want to wear heavily brand goods, preferring to shop at mid budget shops like Zara & Oasis. To bag a bargain they head to Primark, TK Maxx and charity stores.

Where do you shop for items for your home and how often do you buy new things?
The most popular home ware shops are Cargo, Habitat, IKEA and John Lewis. However respondents admit to picking up items when shopping for other products at stores like Asda and Argos.

What do you think about stores being more environmentally friendly?Respondents would like companies to do more for the environment like offering in-store recycling, a reduction in the amount of packaging used and better provisions in place to deal with the huge amounts of food that is wasted.

Do you shop online? Why/why not?
Buying online is mainly limited to CDs, DVDs and books with women in particular preferring to shop in-store. However due to busy life styles DINKYs are starting to use the internet more when they don’t have time to go to the high street.

Work

Where are your favourite places to eat out? Why?
Results from the poll show a preference for small independent restaurants that serve quality food rather than large chains. Respondents like to try out different places and particularly enjoy Asian food.

Where do you want to go on your next holiday & why?
Exotic destination like Thailand and Hawaii are top of the list for sun starved respondents.

Describe your perfect night out…
The ingredients required for a top night according to our poll are:

Good food, entertainment, preferably the theatre and good company, with all of friends and family together.

Do you want to have children? Why/why not?
Family is very important to respondents and they are planning to start having children shortly after seeing their friends with children and usually after marriage.

How do you achieve a work/life balance?
Various methods are employed to stay sane, which include playing sport and regular exercise, learning to switch off at home and restricting the amount of overtime undertaken.

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