Don't slip up and give slipper - They're the nations worst present

Slippers are Britain’s worst Christmas present – according to a panel of shopping experts.
Slippers came in at number one in a top ten list of gifts to avoid.

The business intelligence and mystery shopping company Retail Active asked 1300 people from its consumer panel to name their least popular presents.

Slippers were closely followed by Iron or Ironing Board and incorrectly sized underwear.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Even if your partner has saying they need a new pair of slippers all year, Christmas is not the time to treat them.

“With wrong sized underwear, if it is too big or too small, you are in big trouble either way.”

The list of the UK’s Top Worst Christmas presents is:-
1. Slippers
2. Iron or ironing board – or both
3. Incorrectly sized underwear
4. Cheap perfume
5. Tool box
6. Bubble bath or bath salts
7. Nose trimmer
8. Kitchen untensils
9. Christmas sweater
10. Cleaning supplies

Retail Active research featured in top rated ITV programme

Retail Active has been working with ITV’s top rated “Tonight” programme, which investigated consumer spending in the run up to Christmas 2010.

The programme, “Christmas or Bust”, reached a prime time audience of more than four million and looked at how Christmas shoppers were responding to economic uncertainty.

Retail Active carried out a special survey and the results were featured prominently in the programme.

Retail Active also helped the producers to find a couple who had decided times were so tough – they were going to cancel Christmas altogether this year.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “We were able to help the programme makers with our expertise and with the use of our considerable resources, which allows us to contact thousands of shoppers instantly.

“The results of our poll, gave precise details of ways in which families were planning to economise on their Christmas spending.

“The findings were fully supported in the programme by financial experts, retailers and shoppers. This shows the accuracy of our research methods in generating a true picture of what is happening in the economy at any given moment and in determining the attitude of shoppers.

“Our experience as one of the UK’s leading business intelligence and mystery shopping companies was able to put the producers in touch with the mood on the High Street and produce figures, which could be used confidently in this prime time programme.

“Thanks to our survey, we were also able to find a Scottish couple who had cancelled their Christmas because of job uncertainty and who gave an excellent interview.”

Christmas Shoppers plan their own spending cuts for a reduced-price Christmas

Christmas shoppers are planning their own spending cuts this Christmas in defiance of the Bank of England’s plea to “Spend, spend, spend” to boost the economy.

A survey by the business intelligence analysts Retail Active found that four out of ten shoppers say they plan to spend less or much less on Christmas than last year.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “We asked 2000 people for details of their Christmas shopping plans and 1394 responded.

Just over half (51%) said the uncertain state of the economy made them worried about spending money on Christmas.

“Families say they plan to save on Christmas spending this year, wherever possible – with more than nine out of ten saying they are going to spend under their limits this Christmas.

“Times are tight and our survey shows that people are resorting to selling belongings to raise cash, dipping into savings and using credit cards for Christmas purchases.

“Competition on the High Street is vicious and there is firm evidence that retailers are bringing forward their January sale prices now in an attempt to encourage shoppers to spend and beat the January increase in VAT.

“The high street is highly price sensitive with retailers under pressure to achieve revenue forecasts during the “golden quarter.”

“The fact that more than a third of shoppers surveyed reported that they had already completed ninety five per cent of their Christmas shopping before the end of November is an ill omen for high street retailers hoping for a late surge in spending.”

"Last Minute Man" is a Christmas gift to retailers

Christmas store staff have been specially trained to cash in on the panic-stricken Christmas Eve shopper – known as “Last Minute Man”.

He’s the hapless male who hasn’t bought a present for his wife or girlfriend and he’s left until the final minutes to find one.

Last Minute Man has been identified in a survey of Christmas shopping types by the leading Business Intelligence company, Retail Active.

The company says it has been called in to coach staff at leading retailers on how to spot him and make sure he buys something.

Julian Chamberlain, Retail Active’s managing director said: “Last Minute Man is a salesperson’s dream – he’s cash rich and time poor. He does his desperate shopping in the final hours of Christmas Eve, when there is poor stock availability and he ends up buying expensive and unwanted gifts.

“It is what’s known as a “distress purchase”, when all rationality goes out of the window.

“We have been coaching staff on the jewellery counters of a major retail 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.

“Figures show a substantial uplift in the sales of expensive items in the last couple of hours – with many purchases up to £1000.

“Our survey shows that men,(56%) were more likely than women, (34%), to wait until Christmas Eve to do their shopping.

“Of those men 1% even do their shopping in 24 hour petrol stations in the early hours of Christmas Day

“This is in stark contrast to women, who conduct an average of four outings before completing their present shopping, proving that we still revert to traditional roles, where man is the hunter and women are the gatherers.

“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.

“Last Minute Man spends on average 15 per cent more than he needs to – because all the best value items have been sold.

“Another Last Minute Man trait is that they do “one stop shopping” by buying all their purchases in just one store.

“He shops in isolation, whereas women tend to shop together as a social event, taking in the Christmas spirit.

“Last Minute Man accounts for 63% of the high value items sold on Christmas Eve.”

Retail Active is offering some top tips to avoid being a Last Minute Man.

1. 1. Go shopping earlier
2. 2. Write a list
3. 3. Ask family, friends and partners what they would like
4. 4. Plan a party or a special treat for the time on Christmas Eve when you would normally be shopping.
5. 5. Shop with your wife or partner and reward yourself when you have ticked a target number of presents off your list – but don’t forget to buy that all important gift for your nearest and dearest

The Retail Active Survey says Christmas shoppers fall into distinct types.

The Planner: Already planning next Christmas. Bought this year’s Christmas cards and presents in last year’s sales. Rejoices in delivering a luxury Christmas at a cut price.

Single Party Person: Christmas is all about them. Presents don’t figure highly. Its all about having the right wardrobe and look for the Festive Season. Christmas shops with friends and spends more on themselves than everyone else combined.

Panic Purchaser: Doesn’t know who they will get presents from – so buys for everyone just in case.

Online: Why get cold, wet and tired shopping on the High Street. Christmas comes from hyperspace – just like Santa.

Dad: Has no idea what the presents are but finds out on Christmas morning when the kids unwrap them. Mum does all the shopping – he takes full credit.

Humbug: Gives nothing – gets nothing.

Retail Active is one of the UK’s leading Customer Intelligence and Mystery Shopping companies. It sends out thousands of agents every year to monitor customer service standards for a wide variety of clients in the retail, leisure, automotive and travel sectors.

New Account Development Director for Retail Active

The leading business intelligence and mystery shopping company, Retail Active, has appointed a new Account Development Director.

Alasdair Smith, who lives in Northampton, has been in the industry for six years.

He says he is looking forward to helping to attract new business and to maintain Retail Active’s enviable reputation as the UK’s most advanced mystery shopping and brand audit service.

Retail Active’s client list already includes many household names in the retail, leisure, catering and automotive sectors.

Alasdair says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to build on Retail Active’s unrivalled position in the industry and to introduce new clients our services.”

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “This is a pivotal time for retailers and we believe standards of customer service have never been more important.

“We are delighted to welcome Alasdair to the company. His wealth of experience will help us to make many more businesses aware that we are the first choice for mystery shopping and brand auditing.”

High Street retailers may feel a chill as Christmas shoppers plan their own spending cuts

Christmas shoppers are planning their own spending cuts this Christmas - tarnishing retailers’ hopes of a prosperous “Golden Quarter” – according to new research.

Four out of ten shoppers say they plan to spend less or much less on Christmas than last year – the survey says.

More than a third have already almost completed their Christmas shopping.

An astonishing eight out of ten shoppers said they would walk out of a high street store if customer service doesn’t come up to scratch.

And there is a gloomy forecast for January sales, when New Year VAT increases begin to bite.

The survey, by business intelligence analysts and mystery shopping company, Retail Active asked 2000 people for details of their Christmas shopping plans.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Families say they plan to save on Christmas spending this year, wherever possible – with more than nine out of ten saying they are going to spend under their limits this Christmas.

“Times are tight and our survey shows that people are resorting to selling belongings to raise cash, dipping into savings and buying on credit.

“Competition on the High Street is vicious and there is firm evidence that retailers are bringing forward their January sale prices now in an attempt to encourage shoppers to spend and beat the January increase in VAT.

“The high street is highly price sensitive with retailers under pressure to achieve revenue forecasts during the “golden quarter.”

“The fact that more than a third of shoppers surveyed reported that they had already completed ninety five per cent of their Christmas shopping is an ill omen for high street retailers hoping for a late surge in spending.”

Eighty-seven per cent of shoppers said they would walk out of shops where customer service fell below expectations.

Julian Chamberlain said: “We send thousands of mystery shoppers to test the service and brand delivery of high street brands up and down the land.

“Customers are just not prepared to put up with poor service unless they have to make a distress purchase.
“There is everything to go for over the next few weeks and it’s still not too late to make a real difference to store performance.

We are offering retailers a five point plan to help them capitalise on the trade that is still out there and to maximise sales.


1 Front line is Bottom Line – focus on ensuring that your staff are motivated to give attentive and speedy service.
2 Are your staff up selling? Look for the opportunity to sell, Even up to the point of paying, customers still want to buy and are at their weakest when at the checkout
3 Perception is reality! create an experience that customers remember and want to revisit – consider how you will get customers back to buy again before Christmas
4 Price is important but service is critical – What can you do to ensure your brand delivery flawless
5 Provide focused training for your team and have systems in place to monitor service delivery and quality

What's in store - Audit helps Moto get fit for the weekend

The motorway service operator Moto says an audit programme with the leading Mystery Shopping Company Retail Active to monitor stock availability during its peak summer trading period was a great success.

Moto, which has 43 sites, is one of the most recognisable brands on the UK motorway network

The audit programme named ‘Fit for The Weekend’, ran from Easter to the August bank holiday aimed to ensure that retail shelves were correctly stocked and brand standards were maintained.

Retail Active was asked to monitor Moto’s estate and to produce instant audit reports for their various branded retail offers.

Moto’s head or retail category management, Ed Sutton, hailed the exercise as a success.

He said: “It helped us as a business to protect the availability of our products at key trading times. The aim was to make sure the shelves were correctly stocked and to monitor changing displays, promotions and standards.

“If you haven’t got central stock figures daily or hourly, the only measure is to physically go in somewhere and have a look – then you have to wait for a stock statement.

“Using Retail Active saved hours of management time. We went from the not knowing - to the knowing about what was happening on the ground.

“Did our standards improve during the audit? Yes they did. We started in the red and moved into the black and pretty much stayed there.

“This is definitely something we want to continue.

“Retail Active are a great, positive, professional auditing company who deliver what they agree to do. You have only got to look at their client base to understand why.

“We operate in quite a unique sector and they adapted well to that. They came into a business like Moto and adapted themselves to work how we wanted them to work.

“The project was delivered to the brief.”

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Our speciality is the speed with which we report back to management, which means they can respond instantly to any issues, which arise.

“We were able to rapidly text scores back to senior managers so they can react to information as it happens.

“We announce our presence to staff and if anything is not up to standard we record it and encourage them to get it right while we are there. We are not out to apportion blame – simply to maintain and improve standards. Our aim is to ensure that the business is fit to trade effectively during busy periods.

“Our expertise means we can deliver fast, accurate information – which allows executives to understand the situation in real time in dozens of outlets – while saving hours of management time and costs.”