Interesting Facts

A couple of shopping centres in the UK are going to trial the removal of mirrors in the changing rooms. (Their rather twisted logic for a mirror-free shopping experience is that 71% of women in the UK decide not to buy an outfit after they see themselves in the mirror! What? That's because the outfit either doesn't fit them, or doesn't suit them! I can see a big #fail coming here.)

According toThe Money Advice Service (MAS), supermarkets are making an extra £1,000 from families each year by using BOGOF and other special offers. (76% of people regularly spend more than they mean due to the buy-one-get-one-free deals among others. On average, people said they spend £11.14 more on a weekly shop, than they had budgeted for. What's worse is some of the deals have been shown to be completely bogus, this could mean that confusing offers will be banned.)

Since introducing the 5p levy on plastic bags in England, 520 million of them have been pinched from shops. (When I first heard this, I thought "How?", but seemingly it's at the self service checkout.  When people are asked if they have brought their own bag 50% say, "Yes", even when they haven't. At £26,000,000 that's the biggest heist, ever.)  

Supermarket shoppers in the UK are being wished a Merry Christmas - by self-service checkouts. (Supermarket chain Tesco has introduced a festive message to customers so that when their payment has been accepted they hear a jovial “Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" I hope they've programmed it to ignore anyone who has bought painkillers. What if they've bought condoms!)

Britain’s first ever fast pedestrian lane has opened in Liverpool city centre. (Following research that claims 47% of the nation finds slow walking the most annoying aspect of high-street shopping, the Liverpool One shopping centre is going to experiment with a "fast lane".   This seems to follow on from the introduction of "slow lanes" in cities in China.  I wonder if all this means we will start having to indicate to change lanes.

Just to prove that your tone of voice really matters, supermarket chain Tesco is replacing the “irritating and bossy” female voice on self-service tills. Instead shoppers will hear a “friendlier, more helpful and less talkative” man. (How about getting rid of the things altogether?) The Sun came up with a translation of what this machine talk really means:- Unexpected item in bagging area. Translates as "Are you trying to nick something." Approval needed. Translates as "A surly teenager will be over to check you're old enough." Please wait for assistance. Translates as "We will come over when we can be bothered."

According to a poll run by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, British women do six years of housework during their lifetime. (Unsurprisingly it also showed we spend far more time on chores than British men. They worked out that five years of our lives are spent cooking, four years shopping (I can only presume they mean the weekly shop, not shopping for shoes), and seven years looking after children. Apparently men spend twice as much time socialising, playing video games and exercising.)

Oxford Street in London, one of London's most popular shopping destinations, has been listed by the the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of the most “dangerous areas” for Emirati tourists in the capital. (The warning comes after two separate attacks on Emirati tourists in London this year, but the list also includes Edgware Road, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Soho, Marble Arch and Piccadilly. When I think of areas of London to avoid, these don't really come to mind, I'd say Westminster is the place where most major crimes take place.) http://maps.met.police.uk/index.php?areacode=E09000033&crimetype=8

According to the World Tourism Organisation, nearly one in ten international tourists worldwide is now Chinese. (There were 97.3m outward-bound journeys from China in 2013, of which around half were for leisure.  Chinese tourists spend most in total ($129 billion in 2013, followed by Americans at $86 billion) and per tax-free transaction ($1,130 compared with $494 by Russians).  More than 80% say that shopping is vital to their plans, compared with 56% of Middle Eastern tourists and 48% of Russians.  The Chinese are expected to buy more luxury goods next year while abroad than tourists from all other countries combined. However, only around 5% of China’s population actually own passports.)

According to the Wise Marketer website, 96% of the UK adult population are members of at least one loyalty program. (Of the big 3, Nectar have 11 million, Tesco 10 million and Boots Advantage 15 million customers. In France I'm always annoyed at not being able to use any queue as loads of tills are reserved for Carrefour (name and shame) loyalty card customers, but, the next generation of supermarket cards are going to be worse. They are set to offer you lower prices as you shop. The prices displayed on shelves will reduce as you pass by with your loyalty card. Imagine how you would feel if the person in front of you pays less for the same item! Amusingly, 64% belong to three or more loyalty schemes, which isn't very loyal, is it?)

British supermarket chain Tesco has announced it will introduce a “one date” system to stop customer confusion between display dates and use-by dates. (The confusion arises because shoppers often throw out items based on their sell-by or display date, but this date is only used by the sellers for stock control, and doesn't actually mean the product is unfit for consumption.  The expiration date, or use by date is the one that relates to food safety.  For food items, maybe it should be called an "eat by" date.)

In 2012, over 246,241 items were handed to lost property offices in London after being found on trains and buses. (Shopping trolleys, umbrellas, medicine, and even the ashes of a loved one are all on the list of things that got left behind. Happily 52,000 people were eventually reunited with their property.)

According to a study carried out in Taiwan, shopping can help you live longer. (The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that elderly people who shop every day have a lower risk of dying over a 10-year period than those who don't shop as often. The study stated, "... compared to other types of leisure-time physical activity like formal exercise, which usually requires motivation and sometimes professional instruction, shopping activity is easier to undertake and maintain. ... Shopping captures several dimensions of personal well-being, health and security as well as contributing to the community’s cohesiveness and economy and may represent or actually confer increased longevity." Time to shut down the laptop and grab the shopping bag.) Source  This one has to be for  +april sis .  It's purely medicinal.  :)

According to a survey commissioned by The Original Factory Shop, couples lie to each other all the time. (For a man the most popular lie is his internet history, salary, and what they get up to on a night out, and for us women, it's secret shopping, along with how much and what we eat and what we really watch on TV. Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.)

No surprises here, as a survey carried out by MoneySavingExpert.com, found that shoppers are infuriated by constantly being asked "Can I help you?" in shops. (Two-thirds of shoppers asked found offers of assistance from pushy staff annoying and put them off buying, only a fifth thought it saved them having to seek out help. Of course the poor shop assistants are forced to do this by over zealous managers who can't bear the thought of them standing around doing nothing. The main problem nowadays is that you can't even escape this kind of robotic selling on the internet, as more and more sites insist on telling you that other people bought this along with that, sometimes with avatars whose eyes follow you round the page. No - give me a human any time, at least they can take the hint, "I'm just looking, thank you."

A royal decree issued by King Abdullah in 2011, means that from 2012 only female staff will be able to sell women's lingerie in the 4,332 lingerie stores in the kingdom. (The ban on male staff is to be extended to cosmetics shops from July 2012. For years Saudi women had complained about being forced to buy their underwear from men, and they started a Facebook campaign called "Enough Embarrassment." When I think about it, I can't remember ever being served by a man when buying knickers or bras in the UK, or in Germany, I think I would feel awkward too, we don't call them unmentionables for nothing.)

According to official statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK, Britons spent an average of £539m online each week in September 2011. (This is out of a total sales figure of £5.61bn, which means that £1 in every £10 is spent on goods bought online for the first time. We're S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G shopping.)

There is a rare medical condition called Hair Brushing Syndrome. (The syndrome means that sufferers have to avoid static electricity, which can shut down their brain. As a result people with this condition cannot wear polyester, or play with balloons or, of course, brush their hair - hence the name. I guess they have to avoid going shopping in department stores too. I don't know if it's just me, but I'm always getting little shocks when I take the escalator or grab hold of a handrail, and sometimes I even pass the shock on to innocent passers-by.) Source

According to research from the EHI Retail Institute, shoplifting costs Germany more than 5 million euros a day. (They worked out that shoplifters in Germany stole goods worth a total of 1.9 billion euros ($2.77 billion) in 2010. Statistically speaking, that's 50 euros per household. And that's not all! Almost the same amount again was collectively lost to thieving employees, cleaning and delivery staff and sloppy book-keeping, in fact crooked employees, who between them, account for 22.4 percent of retail losses. All told, shops across the country missed out on 3.7 billion euros worth of revenue. As I read this I thought, I'm glad I don't actually sell anything, and then I remembered, some websites steal my content, so I guess no industry is immune from dishonesty.) Source

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. It is also the largest corporation and private employer in the United States. (Yes, in England it might feel as if Tescos is, but Wal-Mart is way ahead of them. In the U.S., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates more than 4,300 facilities including Walmart supercenters, discount stores, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Club warehouses. Internationally, Wal-mart operates more than 4,000 additional stores in 15 markets worldwide, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile’, China, Costa Rica.)