Millions of pounds of Christmas presents to be returned
29/12/2008
Christmas presents worth over £2bn are given to people who don’t want them or will never use them, according to a UK survey carried out by TalkTalk. Nearly three-quarters of us will pretend to be delighted with at least one present we would rather not have.
The average cost of each unwanted present is £65 and is most likely to be an item of clothing, with 19% of respondents saying they would never wear their Christmas gift. The next most unwanted gift is likely to be cosmetics (9%), home accessories (8%), books (8%), perfume (7%), CDs/DVDs (7%), car accessories (5%) and foodstuffs (5%).
Only about £330m of these presents will actually make their way back to the shops for a refund or to be swapped in-store for another item. This is partly because the recipients are too embarrassed to ask the giver for the receipt.
Interestingly, the research highlighted the trend for people to swap their presents with friends and family, rather than let them go to waste. An estimated £110m worth of Christmas presents will be swapped by 1.7 million people this festive season, thus avoiding wastage and embarrassing situations.
The average cost of each unwanted present is £65 and is most likely to be an item of clothing, with 19% of respondents saying they would never wear their Christmas gift. The next most unwanted gift is likely to be cosmetics (9%), home accessories (8%), books (8%), perfume (7%), CDs/DVDs (7%), car accessories (5%) and foodstuffs (5%).
Only about £330m of these presents will actually make their way back to the shops for a refund or to be swapped in-store for another item. This is partly because the recipients are too embarrassed to ask the giver for the receipt.
Interestingly, the research highlighted the trend for people to swap their presents with friends and family, rather than let them go to waste. An estimated £110m worth of Christmas presents will be swapped by 1.7 million people this festive season, thus avoiding wastage and embarrassing situations.
