DINKYs - an acronym for `double income, no kids yet\' - are married or cohabiting couples who have not yet had children (or who do not intend to do so).
Press Release Body = The DINKY Market - Market Assessment
Executive Summary
DINKYs - an acronym for `double income, no kids yet\' - are married or cohabiting couples who have not yet had children (or who do not intend to do so). Although the term DINKY is perhaps less in fashion than when Key Note last reviewed the sector in 1999, research for this report indicates that to neglect this sector is to ignore a major consumer group. The affluence of the past few years has benefited DINKY households to a greater extent than single-person or family households. Moreover, increasing personal wealth is bringing about major shifts in DINKY lifestyles and spending patterns that are of great significance in the key markets examined in this report: holidays, eating out, finance and the home.
Age is a significant factor in DINKY status. Younger couples in the 16 to 45 age group are far more likely to earn less as they establish careers and they are therefore more likely to rent rather than buy and to spend less on leisure products. As couples earn more in their late 20s, their prosperity increases and, if they decide not to have children, they have the added advantage of more personal disposable income.
Single-family households occupied by two adults under retirement age and no children now nearly outnumber all households occupied by couples with children. The continuing rise in the number of DINKY households is caused primarily by the key lifestage decisions to delay both marriage and childbirth. As more women enter the workforce, childbirth is delayed or, in many cases, deferred altogether - the UK has one of the highest percentages of childless couples, with over one woman in five now in her 40s without children. Increased freedom and opportunity for women have brought widening choice.
The consumer research conducted for this report indicates that affluent DINKYs are higher spenders than other AB adults in many key leisure markets, including Internet shopping and home improvements. They also eat out on a more regular basis and are far more confident that they will have as much to spend in the future as they do at present. DINKYs\' biggest item of leisure spending is the foreign holiday. The short-break sector, especially short breaks abroad, has been a particular beneficiary of DINKY spending.
However, the widest emerging variables between DINKYs and the adult population as a whole are in the financial sector. Affluence has reshaped DINKY thinking about saving and retirement. DINKYs are emerging as a key client group for financial services.
It believes that today\'s DINKYs in the 35 to 44 age group are enjoying a peak of prosperity and are translating their good financial fortune into planning for the future and early retirement. The rising cost of housing is set to alter younger DINKY spending plans. Economic forecasts are good and no significant downturn is anticipated in the key markets surveyed. However, as housing costs increase, younger DINKYs will have to invest more of their disposable income in housing. As a result, spending on `big-ticket\' items, in particular, will come under threat.
2025
