Purpose -There have been recent calls for research into the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescent consumers -an important topic because adolescents are: an increasingly important market segment; a segment which has recently been empowered by the availability of easy credit; and which is increasingly targeted by strategic marketing collateral. This paper responds to the call by aiming to focus on the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescents.Design/methodology/approach -The research is qualitative in nature and utilises lengthy mini focus group interviews of both adolescent and adult consumer shoppers. The verbatim transcriptions are then subjected to both manual and automated textual analysis to derive conceptual and thematic maps of each group's discussions in relation to impulse shopping.Findings -Consistent with recent neuropsychological literature on adolescents, the findings show clear differences between adolescents and adults in relation to impulse shopping. Significant differences were found in the areas of antecedent moods, shopping purpose, and the range of perceived constraints which may moderate impulse shopping behaviour. The research also shows that impulse buying among adolescents is a behaviour which is undertaken often in response to stress and/or a need for mood amelioration and further that their conceptualisation of impulse shopping is only distantly related to a deficient set of perceived constraints when compared to adult shoppers.Practical implications -This improved understanding of the bases of adolescent impulse shopping will assist in the design of educational programs to reduce the frequency of adolescent financial problems.Social implications -There may be a reduction in the number of adolescents facing resultant financial hardship.Originality/value -This is the first such study which reports the belief structures of adolescent impulse shoppers versus adults.