The 12 ‘hates’ of Christmas past

Overcrowding drives shoppers online

Social media could prove to be a crucial new sales channel for many businesses this Christmas with the inclusion of ‘buy buttons’ on many social networking sites for the first time making online shopping even more accessible.

With Christmas shopping in full swing, many UK retailers are following in their American cousins’ footsteps with the introduction of ‘Black Friday’ (28th November) and Mega/Cyber Monday promotions for the first time in order to attract new business.

‘Cyber Monday’ has become an international marketing term used by online retailers to persuade people to shop online. This year it falls on Monday 1st December and looks set to be a bumper year for shoppers seeking the best deals and away to avoid their ’12 hates of high-street shopping’.

A survey by YouGov on behalf of www.resolver.co.uk shows how people are turning their back on the high street over the ’12 hates of Christmas’.

Top of the hate list by a mile is the overcrowding of high street shops, with a quarter of those surveyed marking this as the main reason they hate Christmas shopping. Equal second in the pet hate rankings were the queues and the perennial problem of what to buy people. Other hates included how long it all goes on for, general stress of the season and a scrooge-like ‘everything’ from 3.89% of respondents.

12 HATES OF CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

1. Crowds 27.51%
2. Queues 12.03%
3. What to buy people 12.03%
4. Cost 7.39%
5. Length of the selling period 6.79%
6. General stress 5.89%
7. Other shoppers 5.69%
8. Everything about it! 3.89%
9. How long it all takes 3.34%
10. Nothing! I love it! 2.45%
11. The commercialisation of Christmas 1.5%
12. Traffic jams and parking problems 1.1%

YouGov online survey sample of 2003 responses – 4-5th November

With online shopping comes separate challenges. Some online retailers make it hard for consumers to complain, seek redress or even return goods if they are found to be faulty. Use www.resolver.co.uk for free to check out your rights if something goes wrong. We are here to make sure your Christmas shop goes smoothly, ensuring you get what you paid for or suitable redress should anything go wrong.
“There is no doubt that online shoppers can get some great deals – but sometimes things do go wrong – presents are not delivered on time or they arrive broken and or not how they appeared on the retail site. That’s when you need to turn to us to help you shop smarter this Christmas”.

Any shopper who experiences problems with their online Christmas shopping should go to www.resolver.co.uk to find out their rights and seek redress.

For a simple and easy way to complain about over 1,500 companies go to www.resolver.co.uk or download the iPhone app.