Bargain Hunting Britain: Discounting and Haggling Statistics in the UK

Are we a nation of discount lovers and bargain hunters? Or does the stereotype of the polite queue-loving Briton stop us chasing the best deals when it comes to shopping? There’s really only ever one way to find out and that’s to ask the wonderful Great British Public. So that’s exactly what we did. With the help of Censuswide, we polled 2,034 Brits in November 2018 to find out more about their bargain hunting habits. Here’s what we found:

Most of us LOVE a Good Discount Code - But Women are Better Discount Hunters than Men

We asked, “when shopping online, how often do you look for discount codes.”

• More than 1 in 3 of us always looks for discount codes before buying online

• Half of us sometimes do

• Just 12% said they never look for discount codes

But it varies with gender, age and region too:

• Just 8.2% of women never look for a discount code while 16% of men admit they never bother, making men twice as likely to simply checkout without seeing whether they could have snagged a discount

• 16 to 24 year olds are the likeliest to hunt out a discount all the time (47.60%) while just 1 in 5 over 55s does this

• In fact, 1 in 5 over 55s checks out without ever looking for a discount and 1 in 20 of this age group claims to never shop online!

• Those from Yorkshire and the Humber are the savviest discount hunters, with 41.20% claiming to always look for a discount and a further 50.30% claiming they sometimes do so. Only 7% of people in this region claim to never look for discounts before checking out

So one thing is for sure - we love a discount and the vast majority of us are now regularly seeking them out when we shop online. But millions of us are simply checking out without hunting out a voucher code or other discount meaning we’re likely to be spending millions more each year than we actually have to in order to get the products we want.

Some of us will take some pretty drastic measures to bag ourselves a bargain?

We asked, “What have you done in the past to get a discount from a retailer?” We asked respondents to check all that apply and here’s what we discovered:

• 44% of us have signed up to an email newsletter in order to get a discount (there’s one way to keep your mailing list opted in, retailers!)

• Over a quarter of us have liked or followed a brand social page for discounts

• More than 1 in 10 of us has emailed a retailer directly to ask for a discount

• 16% of Brits have complained to a retailer after a purchase hoping to bag a discount or partial refund. And actually, 8% admit they made the complaint for this reason despite there being nothing wrong with the product or service!!

Women are, once again, likelier than men to go the extra mile to secure a discount. Over half of women in our survey have signed up to newsletters, while 1 in 3 has liked or followed a social profile.

This also varies by age and region:

• 16 - 24 year olds are significantly likelier to like a brand page on social for a discount, with 42.40% admitting to having done so.

• And who said email is dying? HALF of all 16 - 24 year olds, 25 - 34 year olds and 35 - 44 year olds in our survey have signed up to a newsletter in the hunt for a discount

• And as for those fictitious complaints when there’s no problem with the product and the complainer is just looking for money off? Well, residents of the North East are the worst offenders with more than 1 in 10 admitting to having done so, while a further 1 in 5 admit to having made a genuine complaint but with money off being their end goal

Haggling Like Heroes

Haggling is not reserved just for market stalls.

We asked Britain, “In what places/scenarios have you ever attempted to haggle on price?”

• 33.40% of us have done so at a market stall

• 29.30% at a car dealership

• 23.10% directly on the phone or by email to an insurance provider

• 17.40% directly to a utilities provider

• 15.20% in a High Street shop

• 11.60% in a travel agent

• 10.20% at a trade show or exhibition

• 8.70% in a supermarket

• 3.50% in a train station trying to secure reduced train tickets

While women are the savvier online discount hunters, it’s men who are more prepared to haggle in this way. If we look at the gender breakdown based on our haggling statistics:

• Just a quarter of men claim to have never haggled, while over a third of women say they never have

• 18.80% of men have haggled in a High Street Store, compared to just 12% of women

• 38.50% of men have haggled in a car dealership, where there are arguably quite bit savings to be had, compared to just 21.2% of women

The Welsh are the least likely to haggle, while those in the South East are the most likely:

• 40% of residents of Wales claim to have never haggled

• Just 25.3% of South East residents make the same claim

But where is Haggling Easier?

We asked Britain, “Do you think haggling is easier online or face to face.”

• 47.30%, according to our statistics, think it’s easier to haggle a better price face to face

• 32.50% think online

• The remainder don’t know

Where to find the Best Bargains - According to Brits

We asked our respondents, “Where do you find the best bargains?” and allowed them to tick up to three of the options provided.

• Online marketplaces like Amazon and ASOS came out on top according to our survey, with 39.70% of respondents selecting them

• Charity shops won over 36% of the vote

• 1 in 3 feel you can find the best bargains at car boot sales

At the bottom end of the scale, retailers’ own websites didn’t poll well at all:

• Just 17.60% of people consider a retailer’s own brand website to be the best place to secure a bargain

• Only 12% consider an independent retailer to be the best place to bag a bargain

So what did we learn?

Well, Britain loves a bargain, but some are more prepared than other to go the extra mile or two to bag them.

And marketers could well capitalise on the nation’s willingness to engage with brands on social and opt in to email newsletters in order to bag the best price.

But retailers beware - no matter how good your product and service is, there’s always some prepared to put a cheeky false complaint in to get a bit of money off.

What IS the best way to Bag Bargains?

Who better to offer advice on actually securing discounts than our very own founder, Julian House. He advises:

“Voucher codes are a great way to secure discounts before ordering. So even if you get right the way to the checkout on a retailer’s website, just open another window and take a look to see if you might be able to get some money off or even just save on postage. You can go to Google for this of course, or come right here. Our homepage is full of headline offers and you can search by retailer to find the latest promo codes.

As for haggling, just be bold. In person shopping might be harder for some when it comes to fronting up to ask for a discount, but the worst any retailer can say is ‘no.’ And even then, no harm done. So a little bit of cheek really can take you a long way.”

The Data

You can see a copy of our data here.

We used Censuswide to acquire our data because accuracy is of paramount importance to us. The company:

• Has a panel of 69,000 opted in UK members

• Complies with the MRS Code of Conduct

This code of conduct is based upon ESOMAR principles. In summary, this means Censuswide takes a number of measures to ensure data accuracy and fairness in how the data is collected. Those measures include:

• Adherence to all relevant national and international laws

• Ensuring any participant is participating voluntarily

• Respecting the rights and data protection of all those participating

• Ensuring that questions are unbiased and not leading in order to ensure fair and accurate responses

If you’ve any further questions about our dara or would like to access raw files, please get in touch.