HAPLESS MALE CONSUMERS SPEND 15% MORE ON GIFTS AS THEY LEAVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TO LAST MINUTEMen who loathe shopping and only venture out to buy presents on Christmas Eve rarely get a bargain, retail experts said today.
Dubbed 'Last Minute Man' by sales assistants, he can apparently be spotted sweating profusely as he scrambles through the leftovers of the Christmas shopping rush on December 24th.
In the end he is usually pounced on by a crafty salesman who will convince him to spend hundreds of pounds on gifts never to be seen again after Christmas Day.
The research was carried out by analysts Retail Active, which has been called in by a leading supermarket to train staff to spot the stereotypical Last Minute Man and make him buy something.It surveyed 2,000 shoppers across the country and found men are 22 per cent more likely than women to do their present-shopping on Christmas Eve, spending on average 15 per cent more than is needed.
Despairing men looking for gifts often spend in excess of £1,000, while their purchases on December 24th account for 63 per cent of all the high-value sales that day.
The firm says 1 per cent of men are so last-minute they even buy their loved-ones presents in a 24-hour petrol station during the early hours of Christmas Day.
Julian Chamberlain, managing director of Retail Active mystery shopping, said: 'Last Minute Man is a salesperson's dream - he's cash rich and time poor. He often makes a 'distress purchase', when all rationality goes out of the window.
'Last Minute Man has no list and browses haplessly from aisle to aisle before going in for the kill with a credit card.
'Often the presents are ill thought-out, over-expensive and with one in three being taken back for refunds in the New Year.
'Another Last Minute Man trait is that they do 'one-stop shopping' by buying all their purchases in just one store.
'He also shops in isolation, whereas women tend to shop together as a social event, taking in the Christmas spirit.'
Mr Chamberlain added: 'We have been coaching staff on the jewellery counters of a major supermarket chain on how to spot him and make sure he doesn't get away without a sale.
'They have to look for a man looking through a wide variety of stock, not knowing what to buy and wearing a blank expression.
'He's got money but no time and he will end up spending more than he has to. We train staff to be extra helpful, offer him a choice of gifts, make a recommendation and then close the sale. He represents an ideal sales opportunity.'
As part of the survey, shoppers were asked questions about when they shop, the value of the presents they bought and how often they had to return unwanted gifts.
Following the study, Retail Active came up with a list of top tips to help wives and girlfriends to ensure their present, and those for the family, are bought with consideration.
A potential Last Minute Man should ask family, friends and partners what they would like, write a list, shop earlier and plan a special treat for Christmas Eve when they should be shopping.
Women can apparently help their men by providing them with a list and allowing them a reward, such as a visit to the pub to watch football, once they have ticked off so many items.
