21st September 2012
Britons are the world’s unhappiest shoppers
A new study from FITCH has found that the British are the most unhappy shoppers in the world.
The survey, The Joy of Shopping, interviewed more than 7,000 people worldwide and uncovered that British shoppers are most likely to regard shopping as a chore (19%), with only 3% of Indian shoppers and 3% of the Chinese expressing the same sentiment.
Only 21% of UK shoppers claim to enjoy shopping while the most enthusiastic shoppers are the Chinese (55%).
The survey evaluated shopping behaviour across Electronics, Grocery and Fashion. While some 54% of Britons claim to enjoy shopping for Fashion, the study has found that as women age, they find the shopping experience less enjoyable, while older men enjoy clothes shopping more as they get older: the study finds that there is almost a 15% disparity between men and women in the 55+ age group in having fun while shopping.
Looking specifically at the experiences of women, this level of enjoyment drops some 18% between women aged 16-24 and their 55+counterparts. While the amount of fun had shopping falls radically, women’s expectations remain high across their lives, only dropping 6% overall across the measures FITCH used to survey their ‘shopper mindstates’.
The Joy of Shopping survey formed part of FITCH’s extensive, year-long study on Shopper Mindstates, to identify how shoppers feel and think and to assess how satisfied they are with their current shopping experiences.
Tim Greenhalgh, Chief Creative Office for FITCH, said: “This is a wake-up call for retailers. Our shoppers are unhappy enough as it is – now it seems we are alienating older female shoppers even further. There is a big opportunity for retailers to redress the balance and improve all our shopping experiences – which is better for business and better for shoppers.”
The most fulfilled female shopper is aged between 16-24, suggesting that shops are designed for the young (and surprisingly, older men); thereafter her levels of enjoyment and satisfaction with the experience overall declines.