Women more generous with Christmas spend than men – apart from the bar bill

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Women more generous with Christmas spend than men – apart from the bar bill.

Research from global payment provider WorldPay has uncovered the ingrained shopping habits that lead us to overspend this Christmas, to the extent that 1 in 4 of us (24%) will completely run out of cash by January.

The research found that 1 in 3 women (35%) believe they are more generous with their gifts compared to the presents they get from their family and friends in return, a problem for just 16% of men surveyed. Yet for men, the pressure for spend seems to lie at the bar with 1 in 4 (23%) complaining that they buy more rounds of drinks than their friends.

Shopping with children is another area of overspend risk with 1 in 5 parents (19%) reporting that they spent more when bringing their kids along. The research also found that parents are effectively giving their children an 'open wallet', with 17% allowing their children to pay for goods online using their card.

Our inability to keep an eye on card spend is also underlined by findings showing that 25% of us will spend more when paying by card, with 1 in 5 of us (20%) spending more than £20 per transaction as a result. The public are also much more likely to sneak in smaller value purchases (under £10) using their card with 42% stating that they have increased this in the last year.

Commenting on the findings, Ron Kalifa, Deputy Chairman at WorldPay, said: "Our propensity to shop on autopilot has huge implications for not only where we shop, but how we shop. The expansion of ways to pay presents real opportunities for busy shoppers to help them best use any downtime in the day, and reduce the chances of panic purchases. Whether it's shopping on your mobile whilst on your commute, or browsing an iPad in-store to plan your purchases, it's worth considering if there's a better or quicker way to pay."

Findings previously released from WorldPay have shown that only 1 in 3 shoppers (30%) would like to pay using their smartphone in the future, 23% would like to pay via text message and only 12% expressed they would like to pay through their social media accounts.