Shopping statistics underline lack of loyalty

More than half of shoppers are addicted to bargain hunting in sales, according to a new report entitled “The Promiscuous Shopper”, commissioned by loyalty specialist Air Miles.

Northerners are generally more enthusiastic about shopping than their southern counterparts: for example, 51 per cent of the former agree with the statement “Shopping is fun”, compared with 44 per cent in the South and 39 per cent in the Midlands.

Men appear more enthusiastic about shopping than women. They are more inclined to agree that shopping is a good way to spend time with the family (27 per cent against 20 per cent) and that Sunday shopping is a good thing (58 per cent against 47 per cent).

But this may be tempered by the fact that men generally spend much less time shopping than women – only 35 per cent of them spend more than three hours a week at it, compared with 60 per cent of women.

The activity inspiring the greatest customer loyalty is the weekly food shop, with two thirds of consumers visiting only one shop before buying.

Consumers are least loyalty conscious when it comes to buying clothes for a special occasion.

Air Miles marketing director Stephen Taylor concludes that “overall, shoppers tend to be loyal by default rather than choice because of time and income constraints”.

“It is vital that retailers fully understand their customers and select a customer loyalty programme which maximises their chances of turning high spending but promiscuous shoppers into higher spending ones.”