npower Reveals Brits Haven't Lost The Urge To Splurge
Released on: May 31, 2011, 3:20 pm
Author:
npower
Industry:
Energy
npower has revealed that even those British families might be
feeling the squeeze, they haven't lost our urge to splurge, with the
average Brit expected to spend more than £70,000 on impulse buys over a
lifetime.
A survey of more than 2,000 customers conducted by npower hometeam 50,
which is currently giving cash back to thousands of customers, suggests that whilst
half of people choose to save spare cash from their monthly income, triggers such as
receiving birthday money, coming into an unexpected windfall such as cash back from
a company, or a small win on the lottery, will result in a spur of the moment
purchase.
More than a third of consumers treat themselves to an impulse buy at least once a
week spending on average £21.34. That's £1,114.56 a year and an incredible£70,217.28 forked out during the average adult lifetime. Surprisingly, men spend
more on impulse buys than women frittering away £25.67 per week compared to a more
frugal £18.89.
Items such as food, clothes, magazines and wine prove irresistible for girls when
passing through the high street or supermarket, whilst books, shoes and toiletries
also top the list for compulsive female shoppers. Predictably, food, beer and DVDs
are the most common treats for their male counterparts.
Emily Stagg, from npower hometeam 50, said: "General consensus would have it that
British consumers are trying to save every penny at the moment, but our research
suggests that when we come into a small windfall, such as a small win on the lottery
or cash back, we're still more likely to treat ourselves or our loved ones.
"£20 a week might not seem a lot, but can add up to a huge amount over a lifetime.
For £70,000 you could easily put a large deposit on a house, pay off all your debits
or buy a sports car."
70 per cent admit they are more likely to give in to temptation if there is a sale
on. But 61 per cent of women firmly cite retail therapy as a reason for shopping on
impulse, and often spend more money if they are feeling a bit down or depressed
compared to just 38 per cent of men.
When it comes to confessing all to a partner, 33 per cent of girls admit they don't
bother telling him about their recent purchases. A fifth of couples argue regularly
as a direct result of overspending each week, and 67 per cent of women admit they
are definitely the worst for impulse buys.
Emily Stagg continued: "As part of our hometeam 50 product, we'll be giving
cashback to thousands of hometeam 50 customers over the next 12 months – that's an
awful lot of impulse buys."
The cashback campaign will see hometeam 50 customers who signed up to the boiler
care and central heating care product 12 months ago and who haven't had to call out npower's hometeam, receive
50% of the amount they paid npower, back.
npower's top 20 'impulse buys list includes food, clothes, magazines, bottles of
wine, books, DVDs, shoes, holidays, beer, toiletries, home furnishings, music,
clothes for children, jewellery, accessories, gadgets, garden accessories, flowers,
toys and day trips.
Ends
Notes to Editors:
Survey conducted by npower in May 2011.
About npower:
npower is one of the top energy suppliers to the UK business market, serving over
238,000 small to medium sized enterprise sites and around 17,000 industrial and
commercial customers, with over 100,000 sites.
npower hometeam installs, repairs and offers gas boiler service,
in additions to offering a wide variety of heating care options.
PR Contact:
Nicholas McHugh
npower
Oak House
1 Bridgewater Road
Worcester
WR4 9FP
0845 070 2807
www.npower.com
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