In order to develop a better understanding of teen shoppers, who represent the most highly sought after market segment in the United States (ICR 2005), it is important to explore teens' own perceptions about shopping, placing specific emphasis on their own perceived competencies as shoppers. By examining how teens define a competent shopper and how they perceive themselves as shoppers within their own normative framework of shopping competence, we should be better able to understand the shopping behaviors they exhibit, the purchase decisions they make, and the limitations they feel they must overcome in order to become fully competent shoppers. In order to examine these issues, the present research begins by discussing the broad concepts of competence from a psychological perspective and consumer expertise from a marketing perspective. We then explore female teens' perceptions of what it means to be a competent shopper and how confident they are in their overall shopping abilities. Finally we link the interpretive data to existing theory and develop a conceptual model of adolescent shopping competence.