Population

The Most Popular Babynames in the UK in 2017 are Oliver for boys and Olivia for girls (source BBC). 98% of people take their tea with milk, but only 30% take sugar in tea. The average age of women at their first childbirth is 28.8 years old.

MR methodologies

Many people consider the UK’s Domesday Book to be the first bit of market research in 1086. A Census of the population.

Digital consumption

The UK is the 3rd biggest market for eCommerce (behind China and the USA) – 77% of the population made an online purchase in 2017 (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) with Smartphones overtaking tablets for the first time according to eMarketer. 89% of adults recently used the internet (ONS Q1 2017) with three-quarters accessing it ‘on the go’ using a mobile phone or smartphone. Emailing, searching for information about goods/services, social media, reading news and banking are the main activities conducted online.

Health

Obesity is a growing concern in the UK, with a quarter of the population obese (Public Health England) – levels are highest in the North East; lowest in London. Sugary soft drinks are the latest target with a sugar tax being introduced in 2018 on drinks with levels greater than 5g per 100ml aiming to encourage manufacturers to reformulate.