Time to ban the bath bomb?
Shoppers are being urged to buy with care this December after a survey by Christmas.co.uk revealed that more than a third of Brits (37 per cent) will bin a present given over the festive season – with many of those being beauty gift sets.
The survey of 1,000 adults in the UK also found that 43 per cent of people will try and regift something they get this Christmas. Meanwhile 38 per cent of people expect to resell a gift they get and 29 per cent think they’ll have to return something they do not want.
When asked what kind of gift they had previously returned, resold, regifted or binned . Meanwhile men were more likely to have disposed of booze they did not want (36 per cent).
Despite this, 61 per cent of people say they buy beauty gift sets at Christmas. A third (34 per cent) of people said they buy them for convenience while another third (32 per cent) say it is because there are usually good deals on the products.
The most likely person to give an unwanted gift was a work colleague, named by 31 per cent, while least likely was kids, mentioned by just three per cent.
When asked how getting rid of gifts made people feel, a third (34 per cent) feel guilty, one in five (21 per cent) feel wasteful, while eight per cent are annoyed at getting a gift they didn’t want.
However, when asked about the features of their favourite present, the most popular answer was simply a present that ‘shows the person has thought about me’ (42 per cent). Cost barely registered with only six per cent hoping for an expensive gift.
To avoid the waste, and the post-Christmas stress of returning or selling unwanted goods, bosses of Christmas.co.uk are urging people to shop with thought when buying gifts.
Dan Brown, owner of Christmas.co.uk, said: “We fully expected people to say they returned or regifted Christmas gifts, but it was a shock to discover that so many are already expecting to bin what they get.
“Beauty gift sets were one of the main presents mentioned as being disposed of but they’re fine if you know the person uses the products. The evidence shows that it truly is the thought that counts and putting in the extra effort to make sure we’re buying the right thing will stop the waste.
“It’s easy to be seduced by high street three for twos, but it’s quite simple – if you are not sure, don’t buy. Ask the person what they would like, or just donate to charity instead. After all there is much more to Christmas than presents.”
For more information contact:
Liz Murphy
email: liz@christmas.co.uk